Kinetics News

The Worst Hack in US History

The Worst Hack in US History

In the last week, we’ve seen two major successful attacks on critical US IT management and Cyber security tools. The first we learned about was on FireEye which is one of the leading and most trusted cyber security tools, used by much of the Fortune 500. ...

Look out for more ransomware in 2021

2020 saw a crazy amount of ransomware attacks.  We've warned repeatedly of the increasing sophistication and organisation of these bad actors.  Names like RangarLocker and Dharma are cyber-businesses or do it yourself cyber-crime kitsets designed to cause havoc for...

Windows 7 slips quietly away

Windows 7 slips quietly away

There is no doubt about it, 2020 will be a year to remember. COVID : Lockdowns, work from home, toilet paper shortages, return to level 3, hand cleaners, level 2, mask envy, normality (kind of), lockdown again, election(s), housing market and more.  Perhaps the only...

What’s new in Microsoft Office for the end of 2020?

What’s new in Microsoft Office for the end of 2020?

There is a pay-off!! While there are few things as annoying as Office occasionally pausing to install new features, there is a benefit in the new abilities you get. While the timing always seems to be terrible, it should save you time in the long run. Here’s three of...

Urgent Security Warning – Nitro PDF

Urgent Security Warning – Nitro PDF

CERT NZ have issued a warning about Nitro PDF.  It’s a common PDF tool that users log into to share documents.  Unfortunately, there are reports that hackers have breached their database We’re being told that “Nitro PDF, a PDF enterprise document creation and sharing...

Keeping our Security tools up to speed

Keeping our Security tools up to speed

Cyber-crime is estimated to earn criminals US$7 Trillion a year That sort of money buys cyber criminals a lot of resources.  It’s no surprise then that cybercrime has its own support industries. You don’t need to access the "Darknet" to purchase hacker tools.  Many...

GOOD PROCESS WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH – SCAMMERS STILL WON

GOOD PROCESS WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH – SCAMMERS STILL WON

In August we all heard about Team NZ falling prey to a $2.8 million invoice payment fraud.  It was the now-familiar story of a fake or hacked email, asking for payment to go to a different bank account. We should all be familiar with these tales by now. I’m sure that...

Hacking the hackers (aka what goes around, comes around)

Hacking the hackers (aka what goes around, comes around)

Even hackers can be hacked!  Isn't that serendipitous? There is a website, Cit0Day.in, which hosts 23,000 hacked databases.  Access is available at a cost, daily or monthly subscription. Hackers mine this data for passwords and other information.  They then use this...

40 years of the IBM PC

40 years of the IBM PC

For our working generation, desktop computers have been a mainstay of our work life. Its a very different world to the generation before us.  In fact this month marks 40 years since IBM signed two young men from a new business called 'Microsoft' to write the operating...