Malware Hidden in Medical Imagery

The healthcare sector has come under increasing fire over recent years. This fire was caused by numerous cybersecurity incidents, from breaches to malware infections affecting critical service delivery. Now the US Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) has issued an alert warning that files using the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard can be abused to hide malware. The DICOM standard is used in virtually all hospitals around the world, including by imaging equipment (CT, MR, ultrasound), imaging information systems (HIS, RIS, PACS), and peripheral equipment (workstations and 3D printers). The vulnerability in DICOM type files was discovered by Cylera’s Markel Picado Ortiz, who has described the flaw as a “fundamental design flaw.” According to the NCCIC successful exploitation of this design flaw, which has been publicall...

MatchKnowledge Adware (Mac)

MatchKnowledge (also known as Match Knowledge) is an adware-type application that is virtually identical to MatchKnowledge adware. By offering improved web search results MatchKnowledge creates the impression of legitimacy/usefulness. However, its actual purpose is to cause unwanted redirects to search.yahoo.com. MatchKnowledge is known for infiltrating computers without user's consent. Moreover, since it is categorized as an adware, there's a high credibility that it will deliver intrusive advertisements and gather various information as well. MatchKnowledge is designed to force users to visit search.yahoo.com (Yahoo) website, which is a completely legitimate web search engines. The problem is that forcing users to visit certain sites significantly decreases web browsing experience. Crooks often use this tactic by generating fake web traffic and gaining revenue via affiliate p...