Ransomeware can be a company’s worst nightmare. It’s not simply “getting a virus” or “clicking on a malicious email.” It is a systematic plan created by hackers to take your private information. Once they have a foothold in your private data, they use their position to blackmail you into submitting a payment. Technology to prevent ransomware has gotten better but attackers have gotten smarter and more methodical.

Using unapproved tools, software, and devices is risky. You never know what vulnerabilities so-called shadow IT may have. The pandemic that began in 2020 put a new spin on the shadow IT problem. The sudden need to handle all processes remotely was a true challenge, since the majority of corporate networks were not configured to be safely accessed by employees from home.

For the newest instalment in our series of interviews asking leading technology specialists about their achievements in their field, we’ve welcomed Mark Kerzner, software developer and thought leader in cybersecurity training who is also the VP at training solutions company, Elephant Scale. His company has taught tens of thousands of students at dozens of leading companies. Elephant Scale started by publishing a book called ‘Hadoop Illuminated‘.

Trustwave SpiderLabs recently undertook a survey of some 100 popular WordPress plugins for possible SQL Injection vulnerabilities. Some good news is that in the vast majority, no such vulnerabilities were identified. Most plugins were found to be using either prepared statements or suitable sanitization when incorporating user-controlled data in a query.

A selection of this week’s more interesting vulnerability disclosures and cyber security news. For a daily selection see our twitter feed at #ionCube24. First up this week is quite a terrifying use of an iPhone vulnerability…

Social media platforms are excellent hunting grounds for scammers. This is where we connect with our friends or people who we have something in common with. This is precisely what scammers exploit—our connections and the trust that is afforded between friends or acquaintances. From an early age, we are taught to be kind and compassionate as well as to help others, especially people we know such as friends and family. In turn, they will help us if we ever need it.

The past year and a half has posed unprecedented challenges to society, at every level. For companies adjusting to a more distributed workforce, with newly remote workers and no central place of business to anchor their teams, the corresponding flood of unmanaged content and shadow IT has been a serious test of their organizational fortitude. For these companies, business-critical content can go unchecked, dispersed between the cloud and corporate hard drives—a scenario known as content sprawl.

When I turned 7, I got my first BMX bike. Of course, within a week my best friend and I built a ramp with plywood and cinderblock. I remember the first jump vividly. I sped down the street like a miniature Evil Knievel and hit the ramp at a pretty good clip. A moment after I caught “big air,” my front tire hit the road, and I went over the handlebars – leaving a fair amount of skin on the road.