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Mozilla’s Firefox tries closing more privacy holes with new network tech

Mashing up two network technologies — DNS and HTTPS — thwarts snooping and tampering.

BY STEPHEN SHANKLAND

Browser makers are trying to thwart network snoopers by encrypting your connections to the web servers that host websites, but Mozilla on Friday began a project to go one step further.

Firefox Nightly, a rough-around-the-edges test version of Mozilla’s browser, now includes technology called DNS over HTTPS, Mozilla said. DNS is the Domain Name System used to find the numeric addresses needed to communicate with computers across the network — 64.30.228.118 for CNET.com, for example — and HTTPS is the secure version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol used to fetch data from websites.

 

Read the full article // CNET – Mashing up two network technologies

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Several state agencies targeted by malware threat

Several state agencies targeted by malware threat

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Some technical issues experienced by a few state agencies on Friday have been attributed to malware, according to Department of Administration public information officer Brena McCabe.

She confirmed to Eyewitness News, agencies affected are the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Department of Human Services, and the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals.

 

Read Full Article WPRI // Several state agencies targeted by malware threat

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Don’t Pay the Ransom Unless You Really Have To

Don’t Pay the Ransom Unless You Really Have To

How hospitals can protect themselves against ransomware.

By Josephine Wolff

This article is part of Update or Die, a series from Future Tense about how businesses and other organizations keep up with technological change—and the cost of falling behind.

Very early on the morning of Palm Sunday last year, the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, New York, was infected by the SamSam ransomware. Hospital staff members first noticed the ransom demand for 24 bitcoins (worth roughly $44,000 at the time) locking up their devices at 2 a.m. on April 9, 2017, and they promptly called the hospital help desk.

Read full article Slate // How hospitals can protect themselves against Ransomware

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