Our cyber security advisor Erka Koivunen spends his much of his life speaking to private citizens and officials whose livelihood and careers depend on securing private data. Before he joined F-Secure, he worked on cyber security for the Finnish government for eight years, coordin … | Continue reading
We recently invited our active Twitter community to ask us anything that came into their minds about privacy, VPNs and all manner of related topics. The Twittersphere didn’t pull any punches, and among the great questions was one asking us to make our case for own existence: Wha … | Continue reading
European Cyber Security Month (or National Cyber Security Awareness Month as it’s known in the US) is just around the corner. And considering the recent disclosure of Yahoo’s massive data breach, it seems like a good time for companies to give some consideration to their cyber se … | Continue reading
Protecting yourself on the internet used to be a lot simpler — mostly because you weren’t always on the internet. Now we can be online from when we wake up until when we go to sleep. We seamlessly shift from chatting to shopping to banking — rarely sticking to one device or platf … | Continue reading
Reports that half a billion Yahoo accounts were hacked in 2014 “by a state-sponsored actor” were confirmed today by the tech giant. This hack of “names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates, encrypted passwords and, in some cases, security questions” is the largest in … | Continue reading
Many Android users (myself included) have long found it annoying that creating a working portable hotspot is not possible while using a VPN on the device that shares the connection. From the user interface to the lines of code that power the app behind it, a driving principle of … | Continue reading
If you don’t want to read the manual for the new Wi-Fi-connected device you just installed in your home, do yourself a favor and at least check how to change the default password. A new report finds that more than 100,000 devices in the United Kingdom alone could be possibly be a … | Continue reading
Recently we had the unique opportunity to do something few people in the world have ever done – go for a ride on a “robot bus.” A self-driving bus has taken to the open road in Helsinki as a test project, and it’s not far from the F-Secure headquarters. Harri Santamala of Metropo … | Continue reading
During 2016, hundreds of millions passwords have leaked onto the internet. And, as usual, it feels like there’s nothing we can do about it — except check to see if you’ve been pwned. Ah, but there is something you can do to prepare for the next breach, explains F-Secure Labs lead … | Continue reading
It’s been over three years since Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA, but in the grind of daily life, it’s easy to forget why the issue of mass surveillance is still an important one. In a recent Vice News episode, “State of Surveillance,” Snowden hit on three points that help bo … | Continue reading
Cyber security is becoming a huge industry. After all, the data breaches, cyber espionage, and ransomware infections you read about the news are hardly good things. Companies are now making big investments in putting a stop to these problems. That means jobs. And cyber security j … | Continue reading
Facebook has become the most popular social network in the history of known universe for a pretty simple reason: It appeals to our egos. Our egos love to be connected, recognized and comforted. But those needs are generally tiny compared to our desire to be flattered. And one way … | Continue reading
As many already know, online tracking is everywhere. Your online activities are relentlessly profiled by data collectors so that other companies can figure out what you want to buy and how to better make you part with your cash. Many of us are understandably cautious about havi … | Continue reading
We recently invited people to ask us anything they wanted about privacy on our Twitter channel. We answered some of them on YouTube, but so many questions touched upon encryption that we decided to give its own spotlight article. If you’ve followed international news on business, … | Continue reading
I download very few apps. I have probably downloaded less than ten onto my current phone – just the weather, a pedometer app, an exercise app, Freedome of course, and a few others I consider necessary. I’m wary of the permissions they ask for and of not knowing what they are real … | Continue reading
When it comes to technology, students are more connected than ever. But there also seems to be a serious disconnect between what kids and parents think about teens online activity. A recent survey of online teens conducted for the Cybersecurity Alliance found that 6 of 10 student … | Continue reading
A little iPhone history was made this month — a iOS device was infected by just clicking on a link. This sort of attack had previously only worked on devices where the owner had purposely installed a “jailbreak” hack. So before you do anything — even read the rest of this post — … | Continue reading
Bitcoin has not only changed the economics of cybercrime by providing crooks with an encrypted, nearly anonymous payment system autonomous from any central bank. It’s also changed researchers’ ability to track how much money criminals are making. “Bitcoin is based on Blockchain, … | Continue reading
This is really an old problem, but it’s in the headlines again. Pokémon Go is yet another example of a “free” game with a business model based on in-app purchases. These games are also known as F2P, standing for free-to-play. You can start playing, and get hooked, for free. But s … | Continue reading
This has got to be the quickest Quick Tip of all. Literally. With just one click, it’s too easy not to do. You know your computer can be infected. But did you know your router can, too? And because most people just aren’t aware of it, if your router is compromised, it could stay … | Continue reading
F-Secure Labs recently released an analysis of the NanHaiShu Remote Access Trojan, which they believe was used to target “government and private-sector organizations that were directly or indirectly involved in the international territorial dispute centering on the South China … | Continue reading
The lesson of almost every big cyber security story of the last year from Ukraine, to the Democratic National Committee to the South China Sea is that everything can be hacked. “Owning an election is gold; being able to influence it is silver; knowing the outcome in advance is br … | Continue reading
Everything old is new again. That’s a key point our chief research officer Mikko Hyppönen keeps making when discussing the current online threat landscape. And it’s especially relevant when it comes to one of the most controversial stories of the 2016 United States presidential e … | Continue reading
You might know what a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is. But if you’re like many people out there, you probably don’t use one. You should though. And when you finish this blog post, you’ll know why. A VPN is a private network established over the internet. That might sound compl … | Continue reading
Many people feel that some platforms are more secure than others. And while there may be some truth in that, what’s far more common is that operating systems offer users security features that people choose to use, or ignore. As Micke has pointed out in the past, behavior is ofte … | Continue reading
What’s easier than typing, clicking or even swiping left? For most of us, speaking. Until we can get actual USB ports in our brain, our mouths may be the quickest way to make our our desires known to our devices. And as it Internet of Things develops, we’re going to be doing more … | Continue reading
We used to search holiday magazines to find the hotel that offered the biggest pool and then triple check that the hotel has air conditioning. If we were really picky, we wouldn’t look twice at a hotel that didn’t offer cable TV. Now we see the perfect summer holiday in a differe … | Continue reading
Score a new smartwatch from Freedome VPN! For your chance to win a 42mm Apple Watch Sport (with a blue band), just log in below with your email or Facebook details and then complete one of the following: Follow us on Twitter @FreedomeVPN Tweet a message using #FreedomeVPN Answer … | Continue reading
Get an inside view of ransomware in our new report: Evaluating the Customer Journey of Crypto-Ransomware Customer service is not normally something associated with the perpetrators of crime. But crypto-ransomware, the digital demon that has been crippling businesses and plagu … | Continue reading
Every time you go online, your personal privacy is at risk – it’s as simple as that. Whether you’re creating an account on a website, shopping, or just browsing, information like your email, IP address and browsing history are potential targets for interested parties. All too o … | Continue reading
There hasn’t been app that has exploded this quickly in a long time — possibly ever. An “augmented reality” game that combines geocaching with a kids’ favorite from the 90s- 00s, Pokémon Go is already nearing 10 million downloads. And you can hardly go on social media without fin … | Continue reading
The following story was inspired by customer feedback provided to F-Secure at our annual Customer Day. The customer mentioned in the story graciously agreed to allow us to share his experience with us in this blog post. Security software, whether it be a relatively traditional an … | Continue reading
Reports that as many as 40 million iCloud accounts have been compromised by Russian attackers have not been confirmed by Apple. But they haven’t been denied either. “For now, let’s assume there hasn’t been a massive iCloud data breach,” writes Steve Ragan at CISO. So… what do the … | Continue reading
Since the beginning of 2015, governments have shut down citizens’ access to the internet at least 35 times, according to the digital rights group Access Now. Now, the United Nation’s wants it to stop. A resolution passed on July 1 by the United Nations Human Rights Council calls … | Continue reading
The large crowd that filled the Committee Room for the second reading the Investigatory Powers Bill in the House of Lords on Monday suddenly began to thin. Another cabinet statement on the historic Brexit vote to leave the European Union was being issued and no one wanted to miss … | Continue reading
The mobile app is often called (at least by me) the Swiss Army Knife of the 21st century. From finding out what song is playing on the radio to turning your phone into a metal detector, the array of functionality of mobile apps is nearly limitless. Apps use different components a … | Continue reading
When news broke that Facebook was at least temporarily using users physical location to suggest real world connections, a strategy that has been employed by the NSA, the backlash was sharp. It wasn’t difficult to imagine scenarios when identities could be inadvertently and uncom … | Continue reading
If you read our post about why you should travel with glitter nail polish, you know we love unconventional OPSEC advice that keep strangers out of your business. That’s why this quote in a recent GQ profile of Kim Kardashian, which was first pointed out by LA Times editor Amy Fis … | Continue reading
In Finland, there is this thing called juhannus. A few years ago, our former colleague Hetta described it like this: Well, Midsummer – or juhannus – as it is called in Finnish, is one of the most important public holidays in our calendar. It is celebrated, as you probably guessed … | Continue reading
Mikko Hyppönen — our Chief Research Officer and probably the most famous code warrior ever to come out of Finland — likes to point out that he was born the same year as the internet. Jani — the ten-year-old from Helsinki who made international news by earning Instagram’s top bug … | Continue reading
Cyber espionage is more and more likely to play a significant role in the extraordinarily consequential elections taking place in 2016. First Russian-backed hackers breached the network of the Democratic National Committee and stole opposition research on likely Republican nomine … | Continue reading
Part of being a parent is keeping kids safe, but it’s also about helping kids grow up to become responsible, independent adults. And there can be a bit of friction between these two ideas. How do parents find the right balance between protecting their kids and letting them behave … | Continue reading
Russian-backed hackers have breached the network of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in search of opposition research on likely Republican nominee for president Donald Trump, according to the Washington Post. The hack of the DNC network – apparently conducted by two separa … | Continue reading
F-Secure Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen appeared on the BBC recently to talk about cyber security, data breaches, and “dadada.” During the interview, Mikko described the current state of cyber security as a “cat and mouse race between the attackers and between the defender … | Continue reading