Consumer Security

After crashing in 2019, Dark Web markets for stolen credentials rebounded during the first half of 2020, largely due to major shifts in consumer behavior caused by the global pandemic. Hacked accounts for delivery services and physical fitness brands are some of the highest priced items on the marke...

As consumers get more acquainted with shopping and banking digitally, it seems logical that more people would be inclined to pay their bills online. A recent survey of more than 3,000 adult consumers shows that nearly 70 percent prefer digital payment options, such as website and mobile app channels...

Google's Nest line of smart home products will be combined with ADT's security services in a partnership announced Monday by the two companies. As part of the agreement, Google will invest US$450 million into ADT to acquire a 6.6 percent interest in the security and smart home solutions provider. Th...

The move by retailers to online and mobile selling to survive the pandemic has resulted in a significant increase in digital fraud activity. The "2020 True Cost of Fraud Study: E-commerce/Retail Edition" by LexisNexis Risk Solutions found this to be partly because some fraud control systems are outd...

If you conducted e-commerce transactions since the pandemic struck, you have probably been the target, or even a victim, of online fraud. A report from Sift titled "Q2 2020 Digital Trust & Safety Index" details a 109 percent increase in content abuse and growth of the fraud economy from January ...

Life as we knew it before the coronavirus is gone forever, and many changes will manifest in the pandemic's aftermath. How will it impact privacy laws around the globe? No one knows for sure, and we will not know until after the coronavirus is behind us. Cybercriminals long have been taking advantag...

Under ordinary circumstances, the average consumer can order a latte on the way to the coffee shop, book a last-minute trip to the coast, and come home to find groceries delivered -- all with the click of a button. What makes these transactions so smooth and effortless? It starts with account creati...

E-commerce business leaders are already thinking ahead to the holiday season, and they want to answer one big question: What can we improve over the next 10 months to generate the most value during the holidays?

What will 2020 hold for e-commerce and m-commerce? The verdict is in, and it looks like convenience is high on the agenda for consumers. Consumers want to be able to make purchases at the click of a button.

Ransomware hit at least 966 U.S. government agencies, educational establishments and healthcare providers in 2019, at a cost possibly exceeding $7.5 billion. The victims included 113 state and municipal governments and agencies; 764 healthcare providers; and 89 universities, colleges and school dist...

For the second time since Windows 7 reached the end of support, a bug is causing trouble for users still clinging to the OS. The first bug, related to setting a wallpaper image, turned desktops black. This new bug prevents Windows 7 users from shutting down or rebooting their computers. Microsoft's ...

A vulnerability in Philips Hue smart lightbulbs and their controller bridges could allow intruders to infiltrate networks with a remote exploit, Check Point Software Technologies has disclosed. The researchers notified the owner of the Philips Hue brand about the vulnerability, and it issued a patch...

Google misdirected a number of private videos that users of its Google Photos app intended to back up to Google Takeout, sending them instead to strangers' archives. The company emailed affected users to inform them that a technical issue caused the error. Google recommended that affected users back...

There is a problem with the Internet of Things: It's incredibly insecure. This is not a problem that is inherent to the idea of smart devices. Wearables, smart houses, and fitness tracking apps can be made secure -- or at least more secure than they currently are. The problem, instead, is one that l...