January 2017 • PC Matic Blog

Uninstalling Unwanted or Unused Programs – Why You Should and How to Do It

Kayla Elliott / January 31, 2017

Uninstalling unused or unwanted programs can help your computer in various ways. By uninstalling these programs you will be, Adding hard drive space Increasing computer speed – By removing programs you’re not using, they won’t have access to run in your background; therefore, increasing PC speeds. Enhancing your computer security – Many times we ignore […]

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Cyber Security Hygiene Affects Network and Endpoint Security with Application Whitelisting

Application Whitelisting Cuts Cyber Crime by 85%

Kayla Elliott / January 31, 2017

Whitelisting Cuts Targeted Malware Attack Success Rates By 85% According to a report generated by Cylance, the Australian government believes cyber crime can be cut by 85% with the implementation of application whitelisting. The report states, “The Australian Signals Directorate has identified application whitelisting as the most effective strategy in its Strategies to Mitigate Targeted

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Professor Infects California Nursing School With Ransomware

Kayla Elliott / January 30, 2017

In November, 2016, a professor at California nursing school, Gurnick Acadamy, was attempting to access his lectures. The lectures were saved on an external storage device, which he plugged into his work PC. It was then, he realized his lectures were gone. Completely encrypted. He contacted the school’s IT department for assistance. Luckily, the IT department worked not

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Ransomware Locks 80 Hotel Guests Out of Their Rooms

Kayla Elliott / January 30, 2017

Hackers Paid to Restore System After Ransomware Locks Guests Out of Rooms Top European hotel, Romantik Seehotel Jägerwirt, located in Austria, was recently infected with ransomware. The variant, although unknown, took complete control of the hotel’s day-to-day operations. This included not only encrypting hotel files, but also interrupting their electronic key system for guest rooms. Due to

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D.C. Surveillance Cameras Inoperable After Ransomware Attack

Kayla Elliott / January 30, 2017

Surveillance Cameras Infected With Ransomware Days before Trump’s inauguration, the Metropolitan Police Department discovered 123 surveillance cameras were inoperable due to two separate ransomware infections. The infections were found on January 12th and by January 15th the systems had been restored. Investigators resolved the issues by identifying and disconnecting the infected devices. All of the

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“Bluff” Ransomware Reels in Thousands of Dollars

Kayla Elliott / January 27, 2017

The threat of ransomware continues to grow on a daily basis. Hackers are aware of this, and continue creating new ransomware variants to victimize new individuals. It is now clear, just the thought of being infected has become enough to pay. “Bluff” Ransomware Who would’ve predicted cyber criminals would just send the ransom note, without actually infecting

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Cockrell Hill Police Department Loses 8 Years Worth of Evidence to Ransomware

Kayla Elliott / January 27, 2017

Cockrell Hill Police Department Takes Massive Hit Cockrell Hill Police Department, located in Cockrell Hill, Texas, has recently lost eight years of police evidence after a ransomware attack. According to Bleeping Computer, the attack was discovered on December 12, 2016. The ransomware variant used to encrypt the police department’s data is not being disclosed. The police

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Kaspersky is having Twitter Trouble - U.S. government orders federal agencies to remove the antivirus.

Well this is Interesting…

Kayla Elliott / January 26, 2017

Is Kaspersky in Hot Water?? The Russian newspaper Kommersant recently broke news regarding the arrest of Ruslan Stoyanov, the head of Kaspersky Lab’s investigations unit. Stoyanov was arrested in December for treason allegations. It is reported Stoyanov served as a major to the cybercrime unit of Russia’s Ministry of Interior for six years prior to his employment

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HP Recalls 101,000 Lithium Batteries Due To Fire Hazards

Kayla Elliott / January 26, 2017

HP Recalls Thousands of Lithium Batteries HP recently disclosed they will be recalling an estimated 101,000 lithium batteries due to overheating and fire hazards. According to The Verge, the devices impacted include HP ENVY, HP ProBook, HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario’s that were purchased between March 2013 to October 2016. HP has created a recall and

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