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Washington Works has been serving the Bethesda area since 2005, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

30 Schools Shut Down In Montana After Cyber Attack

30 Schools Shut Down In Montana After Cyber Attack

Students generally love it when classes are cancelled for whatever reason, but thanks to a cybercriminal group called TheDarkOverlord Solutions, a school in Flathead Valley, Montana was disrupted for an extended period of time. This downtime resulted in a disruption of operations for over 30 schools, as well as the threat to the personal information of countless teachers, students, and administrators due to a ransomware attack.

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Charity Scams Are Very Real. Here’s How To Dodge Them

Charity Scams Are Very Real. Here’s How To Dodge Them

Dealing with disasters are a part of doing business. You know how difficult it is to recover from a devastating flood or storm. While businesses tend to suffer from these situations, countless individuals suffer every time a natural disaster hits. Just take a look at the United States in recent weeks. Even though you may want to donate to people suffering from hurricanes, there are illegitimate charities out there that want to make a quick buck off of your generosity.

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Getting Greedy: Ransomware Hackers are Asking for Way More Money

Getting Greedy: Ransomware Hackers are Asking for Way More Money

If fiscal reasons have stopped you from securing your network against ransomware thus far, you may want to reconsider your strategy. Not only are attacks still becoming more and more prevalent, but the developers of ransomware have lowered the price of admission for aspiring cyber criminals. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to keep your business protected against a ransomware attack.

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Too Many Smart Devices Have Dumbed-Down Security Protocols

Too Many Smart Devices Have Dumbed-Down Security Protocols

In both the home and the business, security cameras are becoming more and more commonplace as a means of preserving security. However, some malware can turn these devices, and others, into cyber security threats.

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Forget Reading Data, These Ingenious Hackers Listen to Data

Forget Reading Data, These Ingenious Hackers Listen to Data

Computing systems are always vulnerable to some obscure hack or another, and researchers are always trying to find ways to shore them up and prevent future attacks. One previously undiscovered hack literally sounds far-fetched. It uses the sounds that your hard drive makes to help a hacker steal data from your machine, including encryption keys designed to keep your data safe and secure.

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A Zombified Botnet is as Scary as it Sounds

A Zombified Botnet is as Scary as it Sounds

Botnets are proving to be a difficult hurdle for security professionals, and it’s easy to understand why. Distributed Denial of Service attacks that can knock down servers or services, as well as hordes of remote-controlled zombie computers, are two of the most dangerous ways that hackers use botnets to serve their purposes. What can you do to protect your business from botnets?

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Hackers Target Voter Information Databases to Steal Personal Data

Hackers Target Voter Information Databases to Steal Personal Data

Hackers are always getting their hands into sticky situations, but one of the hot topics in world politics--the 2016 United States presidential election--is one of the nastier ones in recent years. In the past few months alone, hackers have reportedly breached not only the Democratic National Committee, but have also infiltrated at least two state election databases.

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This NSA Employee Made a Mistake. How Hackers Exploited it is Worrisome

This NSA Employee Made a Mistake. How Hackers Exploited it is Worrisome

One of the biggest hacks of 2016 was the United States National Security Agency, by a hacking group calling themselves the Shadow Brokers. This hack came to light after tools belonging to the NSA were discovered on the black market. How could a data breach of this magnitude happen to one of the most secure IT systems in the world? Newly released evidence may provide the answers.

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Shhhh! Library of Congress Hacked

Shhhh! Library of Congress Hacked

Not since the British burned the Library of Congress to the ground in the War of 1812 has there been a more devastating attack on the famous library. Only this time, the recent attack was of the digital variety and King George III had nothing to do with it.

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Some Evil Genius Just Combined the Pyramid Scheme With Ransomware

Some Evil Genius Just Combined the Pyramid Scheme With Ransomware

The ransomware machine keeps moving forward, despite significant opposition. In particular, the ransomware tag-team duo of Petya and Mischa have steamrolled most attempts to block them from accessing critical systems, always finding ways to outsmart security professionals. Now, these ransomwares have adopted a Ransomware as a Service model, which has made significant changes to the way that this ransomware is distributed.

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Alert: Acer Breach Compromised Customer Credit Cards

Alert: Acer Breach Compromised Customer Credit Cards

Users of Acer’s online store between May 12th, 2015, and April 28th, 2016, may be in for a rude awakening. Acer may be attempting to contact you to relay that your credit card’s credentials have been lifted by hackers. The breach in question resulted in 34,500 customers having their credentials stolen, including the user’s name, address, credit card number, expiration date, and security code.

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FBI Issues Warning About Critical Infrastructure Getting Hacked

FBI Issues Warning About Critical Infrastructure Getting Hacked

There aren’t many instances of hackers targeting physical infrastructure, but the few that make themselves known tend to be quite catastrophic. Take, for example, the devastating cyber attack on the Ukrainian power infrastructure, which left thousands of citizens powerless. Now, several months later, authorities believe that other major countries could also become a target of similar attacks.

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