The start of a new year calls for a celebration and a New Year’s Eve party can be an opportunity to showcase your creativity while making guests feel special. We’ve put together 3 last-minute printable party favors that can help make your evening even more special!
1. Glass charms Here are some downloadable New Year’s-themed wine charms that slip around the stem of a wine glass or champagne flute. Simply click, print and cut out. Keeps those glasses from getting mixed up throughout the evening.Here’s the link.
2. Toast cards These champagne flute-shaped toast cards let you and your guests write down the things you’re most excited about in the new year. Hand one to each of your friends, family, or new year’s guests—or leave one at each place setting if you’re having a sit-down dinner. (Write each guest’s name on the bottom and they double as place cards!) If everyone feels like sharing, each person can say their own out loud, or you can collect them all to read when the clock strikes 12. And when the party’s over, everyone can take theirs home as a reminder of a memorable evening.Here’s the link.
3. 2020 New Year’s Resolution Cards The best way to start a new year is with gratitude. Why not write it down? These printable cards are great to hand out to guests or just fill out for yourself. After all, writing your resolutions make them more likely to happen!Here’s the link.
From our families to yours, we wish you good health and prosperity in the new year.
I don’t know about you, but I feel that the best toys are tech toys and we’re not just talking about kids here. But we probably should focus on the kids since the newest and best toys this Christmas are high tech. Sorry moms – Mr. Potato head fell out of fashion about 50 years ago. Unfortunately just recently security researchers tested smart toys from several top brands including Mattel and Spinmaster and discovered that many if not most of these high tech toys that use Bluetooth or WiFi have major security vulnerabilities.
The Takeway
Here’s what you should look out for when shopping or before you open that battery powered who-knows-what your son, daughter, niece or nephew has been begging for:
Some Bluetooth toys allow you to connect to them without a password. Well, think about it, if you can connect without a password, so can anyone else. From there, who knows what they can do with that toy. They could use the toy to control it or spy on you or your kids. Not good. For example, security researchers found that walkie-talkie devices of the same brand as that of the toy could be effortlessly paired and used to communicate with the child, from a distance of up to 450 feet away.
Another flaw they found was that some toys required logging into certain websites for updates or downloading certain features. But, these websites were missing encryption and consequently exposed account and session data that could being intercepted by almost anyone. Furthermore, these websites often indicated whether a username or email address was already registered. While this sounds harmless, this could allow attackers to launch brute-force attacks to obtain registered usernames and email addresses which could then be used for spam, phishing and malware. Not good.
So what can you do about it?
Let’s be real here. The responsibility of keeping their product safe to use may lie with the manufacturer, but we as parents should check to make sure that the item we are purchasing is actually cyber-safe. A good place to start is to check the manual. Does it have sufficient language indicating the product’s security and privacy? If not, that’s a red flag. Even so, if you have already made your purchase and if you’re worried about security, try being old fashioned and use supervision while your kids are playing with the toy and when they’re done with it, turn it off. In fact, if you’re still nervous about it, go ahead and take out the batteries. Sometimes it’s just not worth the risk.
Researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) recently found that the smart bulbs that come equipped with infrared interfaces, the same interface that the remote control on your TV uses, well they can be controlled by hackers.
Once connected, hackers can send commands to smart bulbs to either steal data or masquerade as other connected devices on your network and harvest data from anything connected to it. The researchers did mention that some smart bulbs connect to a home network without requiring a smart home hub, and if these smart bulbs are infrared-enabled, hackers can get into them and then worm their way into files stored on your computer.
The Takeaway
If you absolutely have to have smart bulbs in your house, which you might want to consider as they are pretty cool, look for ones that use a smart home hub rather than one that connects directly your Wifi. Of course, it’s best if smart bulb manufacturers were to implement security measures to limit the level of access that smart bulbs have to other connected home devices but who knows when that’s going to be. Hopefully that helps.
It’s a sad fact but scammers target both adults and young people through popular online platforms such as apps, games and popular social networking websites. Youth are particularly attractive targets for scammers as they often have unused Social Security numbers, do not generally check their credit reports, and are used to sharing information online. Scammers may pose as someone else in order to get young online users to involuntarily share personal information, steal their identity and ruin their credit even before they have a chance to make it to adulthood.
If we can help young people recognize these issues now, they can be proactive and protect their personal information, which as we all know may be one of their most valuable assets. Here are the the top 3 scams that target young people so that you can work with your young ones so that they don’t fall for one:
1. Inexpensive/Free Stuff Scam
Many online ads offer cheap or free stuff for sale, such as clothes, sunglasses or handbags. In many cases, these ads are a scam. An unsuspecting young adult may send money but never receive the item or worse, may receive an item of lesser quality. The fake sale may also be an attempt to get personal information, such as user names and passwords, which would allow the scammer to gain access to the victim’s account. It’s very similar to phishing, a topic we’ve covered a number of times. Here’s a recent article about the Venmo scam and College Student scams – they’re all pretty similar. Why? Well, they work – people keep falling for it so scammers will keep using them.
Before purchasing items online, do your research to ensure that the source is legitimate. Scammers often re-post a discount offer that was previously valid but will no longer be accepted by the retailer. Use a search engine to look at customer reviews but beware of websites that post fake reviews to attract more customers. Trust your instincts. If you feel that something seems wrong about the deal, there probably is. Consider only purchasing from established online retailers such as Amazon, Costco, Walmart, etc.
2. Scholarship Scams
Some social media accounts may promise to provide a scholarship, but they’re actually an attempt to steal your money or your identity. Typically, these scams promise to give scholarships to a certain number of new followers in return for a fee or personal information, such as a Social Security number, bank account information or a credit card number.
Legitimate scholarships do not charge any fees. Avoid sharing your Social Security number, password or any financial information with someone offering a scholarship. None of this information is needed to verify your identity or to “hold” a scholarship. These should all be red flags for online cronies.
3. Account Deletion Scam
Scammers may use messaging services on social media platforms to directly contact other account holders to claim that their account may be deleted or locked if they do not click on a link to update their account. The link may appear legitimate, but when users click it, they are redirected to a website asking for the user’s information, such as passwords, email or physical addresses, or other personally identifying information.
Beware of any message that asks you to click on a link to update your information. If you think you need to update your account, do so through the app settings on your phone or from their website.
The Takeaway
If you believe you have fallen victim to any of these scams, you are encouraged to file a complaint with the Office of the Hawaii Attorney General or with the Federal Trade Commission. We have a complete list of resources, all in one place for you here: https://cylanda.com/how-to-report-fraud/
In the aftermath of this week’s events that hit us all so close to home, I think we can agree that having a bit of Active Shooter preparation would be beneficial. We often come across after shooter preparedness in our security training materials so I thought it would be helpful to share some of it with you and the community.
The following will help you make better choices if you find yourself in an active shooting event, how to recognize signs of potential violence around you, and what to expect after an active shooting takes place. Remember during an active shooting to RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.
Before
Make a plan with your family, and ensure everyone knows what they would do if confronted with an active shooter.
Look for the two nearest exits anywhere you go, and have an escape path in mind & identify places you could hide.
During
RUN and escape if possible
Getting away from the shooter or shooters is the top priority. Leave your belongings behind and get away.
Help others escape, if possible, but evacuate regardless of whether others agree to follow.
Warn and prevent individuals from entering an area where the active shooter may be.
Call 911 when you are safe, and describe shooter, location, and weapons.
HIDE if escape is not possible
Get out of the shooter’s view and stay very quiet.
Silence all electronic devices and make sure they won’t vibrate.
Lock and block doors, close blinds, and turn off lights.
Don’t hide in groups- spread out along walls or hide separately to make it more difficult for the shooter.
Try to communicate with police silently. Use text message or social media to tag your location, or put a sign in a window.
Stay in place until law enforcement gives you the all clear.
Your hiding place should be out of the shooter’s view and provide protection if shots are fired in your direction.
FIGHT as an absolute last resort
Commit to your actions and act as aggressively as possible against the shooter.
Recruit others to ambush the shooter with makeshift weapons like chairs, fire extinguishers, scissors, books, etc.
Be prepared to cause severe or lethal injury to the shooter.
Throw items and improvise weapons to distract and disarm the shooter.
After
Keep hands visible and empty.
Know that law enforcement’s first task is to end the incident, and they may have to pass injured along the way.
Officers may be armed with rifles, shotguns, and/or handguns and may use pepper spray or tear gas to control the situation.
Officers will shout commands and may push individuals to the ground for their safety.
Follow law enforcement instructions and evacuate in the direction they come from, unless otherwise instructed.
Take care of yourself first, and then you may be able to help the wounded before first responders arrive.
If the injured are in immediate danger, help get them to safety.
While you wait for first responders to arrive, provide first aid. Apply direct pressure to wounded areas and use tourniquets if you have been trained to do so.
Turn wounded people onto their sides if they are unconscious and keep them warm.
Consider seeking professional help for you and your family to cope with the long-term effects of the trauma.
We sincerely hope you never have to use these tips, but if you do, hopefully it can save a life.
The city of Ocala, Florida has become the latest victim of a ‘spear-phishing attack’. Officials revealed that the city lost over $500,000 after sending a payment to a fraudulent bank account.
According to Ocala.com, the city’s website, the incident occurred when a scammer sent a phishing email to a city department employee.
The scammer pretended to be a construction contractor working with the city and sent an email, requesting payment for services via electronic transfer.
While the email was phony, the underlying invoice was legitimate – which was enough to trick the employee.
The employee mistook the email to be legitimate and inadvertently transferred $640,000 to a fraudulent bank account set up by the scammer.
Here’s the thing, the email address used in the attack included an extra letter that is not part of the legitimate contractor’s email. So, it was only one letter off but enough to pass the human firewall test.
Once the city learned of the payment to the fake account, it reported the issue to law enforcement agencies.
About $110,000 was still in the account when law enforcement later tried to access it. So, the scammer collected a just over $500,000.
The Takeaway
Ocala spokesperson Ashley Dobbs confirmed that no information systems were compromised in the incident. Furthermore, Dobbs added that the incident has been isolated and customers’ data is safe. Now let’s be clear, that taxpayer money is straight up gone. What’s the city doing about this? Here’s what they said:
“While we can’t change this outcome, we will continue to update and refine our cybersecurity systems and training to minimize future impacts.”
So, they’re doing exactly what all companies should be doing – cybersecurity training. This is small, short, ongoing micro-training sessions to educate employees on the latest methods criminals use to try and trick them into giving out company data such as employee records and bank account information. As you can see, once that money is gone, it’s gone for good and that could really sink even a medium sized business. At Cylanda, we do this and more, including monthly simulated phishing attacks to keep your employees on their toes. Feel free to reach out if this sounds like something you and your organization could benefit from. We can help.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but McDonald’s has been doing a lot to modernize their restaurants, including big touch screen kiosks to take orders as well as being able to order and pay for food on a mobile app. But, as you may have guessed, where there’s technology and money involved, there’s sure to be criminal activity.
The so-called “Hamburglar” is at large, hacking customers’ McDonald’s app accounts and ordering food on their dime. Since February over 20 people have reported that fraudsters, we’ll call them “Hamburglars” somehow infiltrated their McDonald’s phone app which was linked to their debit or credit card — and ordered meals for pickup. In one case, more than $2,000 worth of meals was ordered in one day at different McDonald’s restaurants!
But, here’s the problem. When the victims reported the problem to McDonald’s, the fast food retailer acknowledged that there was a problem but downplayed it as a glitch in the system and assured the victims personal information is secure, but just to be safe, that they should change the password on any site that uses the same password as the McDonald’s app. Suspicious, right? Unfortunately, McDonald’s isn’t issuing refunds, claiming that there’s a middleman processing the payments and that it’s not them and to instead the victims have to take it up with their bank. Victims have reported trying to do this, they’ve reported that it’s a hassle and in some cases they weren’t able to get their money back at all!
The Takeaway
Based on the way McDonald’s is handling this situation, completely disregarding any security problems with their system, making victims take up their problem with their bank, and seeing how obvious it is that that there’s an issue with their App, I’m going to give the McDonald’s app a solid D- score. I wouldn’t recommend using it until they figure this out.
Governer David Ige and the department of commerce and consumer affairs issued an urgent alert to local businesses last week regarding criminals targeting Hawaii businesses with a dangerous phishing scam that could potentially capture and hold a business hostage with ransomware. The Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) has received numerous reports of local businesses receiving emails purportedly coming from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) and OCP. These emails commonly referred to as “email phishing scams” are fraudulent and are an attempt to illegally obtain private information and to place malware on the businesses’ computers.
The fraudulent email attempts to deceive consumers through the inclusion of a DCCA letterhead and uses a spoofed sender email of “[email protected]” The phishing correspondence is as follows:
Dear Business Owner:
We are formally notifying you of a claim submitted against your company with the Office of Consumer Protection.
Your company has a rebuttal period of 7 business days from the receipt of this notice, to respond to the claim. The response must contain a final rebuttal and be no more than 5 pages in totality.
The full compliant [sic] filed as well as the response form and instructions for submitting your response have been attached to this email. Due to the privacy of the claim the file is password protected.
The password is located below. You can download the file at the link below.
Complaint Notification: Click to Download
Password: 56673637
Your reply must be sent to us as instructed within the reply form. If we have not received notification from you within the allotted time the claim will awarded to the party filing the claim and they may take further action if they choose to do so, depending on the severity of the claim.
Waiting for your reply,
Office of Consumer Protection
Anyone receiving this email should not click any links associated with it nor download any attachments. Neither the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs nor the Office of Consumer Protection has anything to do with this email. The Office of Consumer Protection never requests a business to download a password protected file through a link, like the one referenced in the email.
Scammers use email or text messages to trick you into giving them your personal information. They may try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could gain access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day—and they’re often successful.
The Takeaway
Do not click on any links listed in the email message, and do not open any attachments contained in a suspicious email.
Do not enter personal information in a pop-up screen. Legitimate companies, agencies, and organizations don’t ask for personal information via pop-up screens.
Install a phishing filter on your email application and also on your web browser. These filters will not keep out all phishing messages, but they will reduce the number of phishing attempts.
If you aren’t 100 percent certain of the sender’s authenticity, don’t click on attachments or embedded links; both are likely to result in malware being installed. Instead, open a new browser window and type the URL directly into the address bar. Often a phishing website will look identical to the original, so check the address bar to confirm the address.
Similarly, never submit confidential information via forms embedded in or attached to email messages. Senders are often able to track all of the information you enter.
Be wary of emails asking for financial information. Emails reminding you to update your account, requesting you to send a wire transfer, or alerting you about a failed transaction are compelling. However, scammers count on the urgency of the message to blind you to the potential for fraud.
Don’t fall for scare tactics. Phishers often try to pressure you into providing sensitive information by threatening to disable an account or delay services until you update certain information. Contact the merchant directly to confirm the authenticity of the request.
Be suspicious of social media invitations from people you don’t know. Phishers rely on your natural curiosity to click on the person’s profile “just to find out who it is.” However, in a phishing email, every link can trigger malware, including links that appear to be images or even legal boilerplate; scammers use your hijacked account to send spam to your friends, because spam from real accounts is more believable than spam from a fake account.
Watch out for generic-looking requests for information. Many phishing emails begin with “Dear Sir/Madam.” Some come from a bank with which you don’t even have an account.
Ignore emails with typos and misspellings. Recent real examples targeting TurboTax include ”Your Change Request is Completeed” and “User Peofile Updates!!!”
Update and maintain effective software to combat phishing. Reliable anti-virus software should also automatically detect and block fake websites, as well as authenticating the major legitimate banking and shopping sites.
The Costco Cash Card scam is back. Don’t fall for it!
If something on social media sounds too good to be true, then it may just be a scam. Costco is warning consumers that a $75 coupon being shared on Facebook is actually a hoax. The company is not giving away coupons for purchases at its stores after graphics of fake coupons purporting to be honoring Costco’s 50th anniversary started circulated on Facebook earlier this month.
The hoax resurfaced this month after occurring around the same time last year. The company posted an almost identical message on Facebook in November of 2018 saying it was not giving away $75 coupons and that it was not celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The coupons prompt users to click on a link that will supposedly allow them to collect a $75 deal. The links, which are visible under various URLs, are not affiliated with Costco.
Users are also asked to input information like their name, email address, birthday and phone number as well as fill out a series of surveys.
Some of the coupons also have red flags like grammatical and spelling errors, including “Coupon” being capitalized and ad copy that reads “for it’s anniversary” instead of “for its anniversary.” Spelling and grammatical errors in the advertisements and poor quality images are usually signs of scams. The link also has copy at the bottom that states it has nothing to do with Costco.
As we’re approaching the end of 2019 it’s the time of year where we would all appreciate a raise or bonus to help with holiday expenses. Well, the scammers are…
Do you have a Yahoo account? You may bay be able to get up to $358 from their data breach settlement
If you’ve had an active Yahoo account such as Yahoo email, Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Yahoo Finance, Tumblr and Flickr between 2012 and 2016, you can now file to receive up to $358 or two years of free credit monitoring as part of the $117.5 million class-action settlement. Are you wondering how this happened? It’s because Yahoo had multiple data breaches that leaked out your personal information. Those of you affected by the breach may also be eligible for up to $25,000 in reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses suffered due to having your information stolen.
The worst of the breaches happened in 2013 when 3 billion accounts worldwide were hacked. Names, emails, telephone numbers, birth dates, passwords and security questions and answers were accessed by “malicious actors.”
The details about what you can receive in compensation can be confusing, and while the $358 number may sound nice, now it’s pretty unlikely that’s what most people will get.
The Takeaway
Yahoo has encouraged victims of the breach to submit a claim to receive a minimum of two years of future Credit Monitoring Services. Now if you already have a Credit Monitoring Service, you can still sign up for this additional protection although it probably won’t help you all that much.
So here’s an alternative: if you can show that you already have a credit monitoring service that you will keep for at least one year, you can submit a claim for a cash payment. Now here’s where it gets vague. The amount they pay you for the claim may be up to but not exceed $358.80. It’s all going to depend on how many Settlement Class Members participate in the Settlement. In other words, the more people fill out the form on Yahoo’s data breach website requesting money, the less everyone will get.
But if you can prove that the breach affected you personally, you could receive up to $25,000 reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs. That being said, for that kind of money you’re probably going to need to hire an attorney. Either way, you have until July 20th of next year to fill out the form to let Yahoo know that you want to be a part of the settlement. The website is yahoodatabreachsettlement.com. I might recommend filling it out long before the deadline.
Hey guys, have you ever received a scam phone call? Well, if you haven’t then you probably don’t own a phone because I’ll tell you, in the United States we do receive billions of these calls every single year and unfortunately they are hard to stop. In fact, I just got one now while typing!
But, the Feds have recently stepped in. They just shut down three of the big alleged perpetrators based out of New York City and that’s good news because that cut down a little bit of this kind of phone traffic. Unfortunately we are still facing an uphill battle against these perpetrators who are usually hiding their operations overseas. For comparison, in the month of June alone 94 schemes were stopped by the Federal Trade Commission, resulting in a reduction of about 3 billion annoying phone calls. It sounds like a lot, but it’s a small number compared to the estimated 29 billion scam phone calls Americans receive each year, accounting for nearly half of total cell phone calls.
You can probably guess where these calls come from, places like the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Nigeria, India – outside of U.S. jurisdiction which makes them difficult to trace. They’re easy to operate and extremely lucrative and sometimes setting up shop simply means some guys getting together in an apartment with laptops and making millions of calls for practically nothing, using scripts and methods that are easy to find and learn on the Internet.
The Take Away
The good news is that like most things, there’s an “App for that!”
One of the best is called NoMoRobo (short for “no more robocallers”) that automatically blocks telemarketing and scam callers on your cell phone. The App is free and available for Android and Apple devices.
Since it’s so easy and lucrative, phone scammers are not going away any time soon. Use common sense to keep these guys out of your life and bank account.
Hey there, good news! According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans reported losing only $143 million to shame and romance scams in 2018. Why is this good news you ask? Well, the numbers are down from $211 million in 2017 so the number of victims are dropping. So, as people get more wise, so do the scammers. With this latest bizarre Facebook scam however, it was political.Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard is now speaking out, pressuring Facebook to do more to combat fake accounts. Mr. Kinzinger’s has been battling scammers for years as they have frequently used his image in their schemes. This latest scam however is something we can all learn from.Recently Representative Kinzinger had an unusual visitor at his constituent office inside a bus station in Rockford, Ill. A woman from India had flown to meet Mr. Kinzinger, claiming that she had developed a relationship with him on Facebook. She waited in that bus station for two weeks for him to show up, and he never did (because he didn’t know about her!). She was a poor lady too, so it had taken all of her money to fly from India to Illinois.This episode was just one of many bizarre interactions Mr. Kinzinger has had over the past decade with women around the world who believed they were dating him. After getting fed up, he sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, requesting more information and action about what the company was doing to prevent such fraud on its sites.Adam Kinzinger said that swindlers have posed as him to dupe women on Facebook and that the company should take steps to stop such scams. He feels that there needs to be accountability for this issue as it can destroy lives. Facebook has an immensely significant role to play in getting this situation under control as there are no signs of it slowing down.In an interview, Mr. Kinzinger said he is in the early stages of preparing legislation that would force social-media companies to do more to fight the problem.
The Take Away
Of course I don’t like telling you about a recent security issue without giving you some guidance. So here’s the deal:On-line scammers follow a pretty predictable 3-step process to get you to send them money.
Step 1: Get to know you
The first and most important step in the process is for the scammer to get to know their victim. I know this sounds obvious but I can tell you personally, from having interviewed countless people on the air, most people light up when talking about themselves and the kind of things that interest them. Scammers use this fundamental human trait to get people talking about themselves. Victims often don’t receive much attention from others, so you can see how just a little attention can make them easy prey.
Step 2: Get you to like them
So, after a victim has been sharing things about themselves, they’re going to naturally like the person listening on the other end of the line. After all, they listened to them. Who else listens to them like this mysterious person on Facebook? Add the fact that these fake profiles are often constructed with glamorous photos, achievements and interests, no wonder the victim is going to like them so much.
Step 3: Get you to trust them
Once the scammer has established knowing and liking, the last element is trust. The scammer can send messages personalized to the victim demonstrating empathy, information and guidance that are so enticing that the victim has no choice but to trust the person.Once trust is established, it’s when scammers usually start asking for money from the victim. It can be for school, a sick family member, to pay for an emergency trip, to fix a broken car they need to go to work – whatever they can think of, tailored to the information they have gathered about the victim. They will pull on the victims heart strings. If this sounds like you or someone you know, don’t fall for it.So now you know the secret formula scammers use every day to scam millions of Americans out of their hard earned money.
You may have heard about it on the news or on social media – October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. First observed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security…
If you go out to dinner with friends, there is an app that I’m sure you’ve already heard of – it’s called Venmo. Venmo is owned by PayPal and it allows you to send and receive money to others from your smartphone. So for instance, when you’re splitting a dinner bill with others at the table, you can Venmo whoever is paying the check your portion of the bill. It’s a great way to send money back and forth and as you probably guessed, whenever money is involved, scammers are there too. With this latest Venmo scam, here’s how it works:
You may receive a text message claiming to be from Venmo indicating that you’re about to be charged a service fee unless you log into your Venmo account and decline it. At the end of the message is a website url and if you click on it, you’ll be redirected to a very persuasive (but very phony) website that looks just like the real Venmo, same colors and everything else. If you enter your Venmo credentials into that phony website, the scammer will have your username and password that they can use to go into your real Venmo account and steal your money.
The Take Away
So, here’s the thing, Venmo and pretty much every other company on earth will not send you any sort of text message like this. If you do get one, it’s most definitely a scam. If you have received one (for Venmo or not) and want to be extra safe, feel free to contact to the company by phone and speak to a representative. They’ll probably tell you the same thing – that it’s a scam and not to fall for it!
If you’ve got a cell phone and frequently use an old scanner to digitally store documents and receipts, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Smart phone cameras are great at scanning and saving those scraps of paper as pdf’s and it’s very convenient. However, a popular Pdf scanning app called CamScanner for Android devices has been caught sneaking malware onto customer phones and with over 100 million downloads, that’s a lot of people.The trojan, known as Necro.n, most likely snuck its way into the App under the guise of an advertising package and the developers of CamScanner may not have even been aware of the lurking, nasty code. However, users have noticed and posted a number of complaints in the reviews section of the Play store. Similar malware has been found in preinstalled on Chinese-made smartphones and the Necro.n trojan itself doesn’t actually perform any malicious activity on its own, such as spying on you or harvesting contact information. Rather, it’s simply a back door to your device, giving criminals access to your phone so they can do whatever dirty work they please.
The Take Away
I’m a fan of pdf scanning on smartphones – I think that it’s a great use of the device. What I’m not a fan of is no-name App developers worming their way into my phone! So, I recommend using tried and true apps from trusted names.The 2 Apps I recommend are Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. Both allow you to scan and crop documents, receipts, business cards, photos, or whatever directly into your cloud storage account. In Google Drive, simply hit the + button and select Scan and from OneDrive, tap the Lens icon in the bottom right hand corner. That’s it – scan away and best of all, it’s free!Stay safe out there.-A
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