NortonLifeLock’s global research team, Norton Labs, today published its quarterly Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse Report, detailing the top consumer cybersecurity insights and takeaways from April through June 2022.

Leveraging the company’s global cyberthreat telemetry, the analysis includes new findings on how cybercriminals are using social media phishing attacks to steal people’s private information.

Norton Labs analysed a full year of phishing attacks on the top social media platforms, and while plenty of fake login pages designed to trick victims into inputting their login credentials were found, the diversity and complexity of lures went far beyond that one technique.

“Threat actors use social media for phishing attacks because it’s a low-effort and high-return way to target billions of people around the world,” said Darren Shou, head of technology, NortonLifeLock. “As social media is intertwined in our daily lives, it’s key to know how to spot the signs of a scam and keep a sharp eye on where requests for your information are coming from. Even better, consider strong, multi-layered security that can be on the lookout for you, too.”

Norton Labs uncovered the top tactics cybercriminals use to get victims to reveal personal information, and while classic login phishing pages are still the most common ploy, cybercriminals are finding new ways to deceive social media users.

Tactics include account lockouts – making it seem that a victim’s account has been locked due to “copyright violations”; follower generator services – luring victims to reveal login credentials or install malware on the promise of increasing follow count; and verified badge scams – prompting users to login to obtain, or not to lose, their verified status on the platform.

Another phishing campaign tactic aims to intercept temporary codes, to break into profiles with two-factor authentication enabled. These tokens are generally tied to the victim’s device and allow the scammer to perform privileged operations, such as modifying personal details or login credentials.

By the Numbers

From April to June 2022, Norton thwarted over 900 million threats, or around 10 million threats per day globally. In New Zealand, Norton blocked in total 4,851,389 threats, equating to an average of 53,312 blocks per day.

During that three-month period, there were:

• 22.6 million phishing attempts globally, with 37,183 blocked in New Zealand.
• 103.7 million file threats globally, with 275,463 blocked in New Zealand.

Globally, there were 302,000 mobile threats and 78,000 ransomware attacks.

The full Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse Report is available here, while more information and Cyber Safety guidance is available here: Norton Internet Security Center.

The post Norton Research Reveals Diverse Social Media Phishing appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

NortonLifeLock has just unveiled Game Optimizer or “GO,” a new feature that maximises gaming performance by freeing PCs from power-hungry program running in the background that tie up system resources.

“When I’m gaming, the last thing I want to think about is security,” said Katharine “KatContii” Conti, gaming influencer. “With Game Optimizer, not only is my information safe, but my game play is seamless. It was created by gamers for gamers and gives me peace of mind without sacrificing performance.”

The addition of Game Optimizer marks a revolutionary shift for PC gamers, reducing performance interruptions while still maintaining security, resulting in an immersive and smoother gaming experience. By freeing power-hungry programs to a single CPU core, Game Optimizer helps ensure all available computing power is allocated to the game for better performance. As an added benefit, Norton 360 for Gamers also offers optimised notifications, permanently silencing non-essential messages.

Norton 360 for Gamers customers will have access to Norton Crypto when it launches in the coming weeks. Currently available as part of NortonLifeLock’s early adopter program, Norton Crypto enables customers to safely and easily mine cryptocurrency while their devices are idle through its trusted Norton 360 platform.

“As gaming and cryptomining begin to take a larger role in people’s digital lives, it’s important we continue to quickly innovate and develop the tools that empower consumers to keep their information, devices and identity safe without interference,” said Gagan Singh, chief product officer, NortonLifeLock. “We want gamers to use Game Optimizer so they can stay focused on the challenges of their game, not the distraction and risk of cyber threats. We also want to help people put their PC’s idle time to good use with Norton Crypto providing an easy and safe way to mine cryptocurrencies.”

“Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for gamers to compromise their online safety to preserve gaming quality and performance”, said Mark Gorrie, Senior Director at NortonLifeLock. “Gaming in Australia has seen an increase since COVID-19, which means more Australians could be leaving themselves exposed to cybercrime. Game Optimiser is an exciting new technology that means gamers no longer have to make this compromise between cyber safety and game performance.”

In addition to providing gamers with boosted performance and an easy and safe way to mine cryptocurrency while their PCs are idle, Norton is also expanding Dark Web Monitoring to 13 additional countries including France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria and Poland for Norton 360 for Gamers customers. Dark Web Monitoring continuously searches the dark web and notifies customers if their gamer tags, usernames, email addresses and other personal information is found.

Game Optimizer is now available for Norton 360 for Gamers customers.

Dark Web Monitoring will be available for new and existing customers across the 13 countries with Norton 360 plans.

The post Norton Levels Up Performance for PC Gamers appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

NortonLifeLock has announced the global availability of Norton 360 for Gamers, security reimagined for gamers.

“It’s never been more critical for gamers to have strong security in place and build good safety habits to protect themselves,” said Mark Gorrie, Senior Director at NortonLifeLock.

“With two-thirds of New Zealanders playing video games and nine out of 10 households owning a video game device, gaming has become an integral part of the way in which we communicate and interact with friends. This means gaming accounts and the personal information tied to them have become a lucrative target for cybercriminals. Norton 360 for Gamers is part of our vision to protect and empower people to live their digital lives. We want gamers to continue enjoying the gaming world, safe in the knowledge they have a cyber safety plan in place to help stay one step ahead of the cybercriminals.”

With online gaming on the rise during the pandemic, cybercriminals have taken aim at the lucrative industry that boasts more than 2.7 billion gamers globally. A new survey among nearly 3,000 gamers commissioned by NortonLifeLock and conducted by The Harris Poll found that many gamers are concerned about the trajectory of gaming security, with 68 percent of New Zealanders surveyed worried that gaming will become less secure in the future.

Further, 35 percent of those surveyed around the world say they have had a gaming account hacked. Locally, that number is similar with 32 percent of gamers in New Zealand having had a gaming account hacked, including 8 percent who have had their account hacked more than one time. Experts at NortonLifeLock warn that gamers will need to be more vigilant this year as cybercriminals recognise the value of their accounts and personal information.

Today’s gamers are faced with challenges that extend well beyond the game. From casual to hardcore PC gamers, personal information and digital assets abound in the gaming universe and are valuable to cybercriminals, putting gamers at risk for device vulnerabilities, phishing attacks and identity theft. A typical gaming account can include the gamer’s name, birth year, mailing address, email, mobile number, payment information, and other personal information that, with the right mix of information, could be used by an identity thief to wreak financial havoc.

Gamertags are ransacked for virtual items and personally identifiable information that are bought and sold for real money on the Dark Web. Once a gaming account has been breached, the gamer’s other accounts, from banking to social media, are at a much higher risk for account takeovers and fraud.

Norton 360 for Gamers was designed by gamers at NortonLifeLock to help protect PC gamers with advanced, multi-layered protection, including Dark Web Monitoring Powered by LifeLock, a first in cyber safety, which monitors up to 10 gamer tags and notifies gamers if their gamertags, usernames and email addresses are found on the Dark Web.

To date, NortonLifeLock has issued more than 60,000 notifications informing customers their gaming information was located on the Dark Web. Norton 360 for Gamers also offers optimised notifications, permanently silencing messages except the most essential, eliminating the tension between wanting security and gaming.

“Gamers pour their passion, time and money into their gaming PCs and accounts, but they’re notoriously apprehensive about security because they just don’t want to be interrupted or experience slowness, or they may think the free stuff is good enough,” said Bob Shaker, Head of Gaming at NortonLifeLock.

“Many of us at NortonLifeLock are gamers ourselves, and we wanted to reimagine how we approach security and develop features tailored to gamers’ needs, like limiting notifications that could interrupt a game and adding gamertag monitoring among the personal information we look out for on the Dark Web. We are excited to now offer Norton 360 for Gamers globally to help keep PC gamers safe.”

In addition to Dark Web Monitoring, key Norton 360 for Gamers features include:

• Secure VPN: Browse anonymously and securely by masking your IP address with a no-log VPN to help protect against DDOS attacks, doxxing and SWATing.
• Notification Optimisation: We’ll only notify you if your PC is under attack, your protection is at risk, or you aren’t using a feature you’re entitled to use — and give you control over product reminders.
• Full-Screen Mode Detection: Device security for PCs that detects when you’re using full-screen mode, and silences all but critical security alerts.
• PC SafeCam: Helps protect against potential stream bans and embarrassment with alerts on attempts to access your webcam so you can block them.

Norton 360 for Gamers offers protection for up to 3 PCs, Mac, smartphones or tablets.

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The post NortonLifeLock Makes Norton 360 for Gamers Available Globally appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

New year, new cyber nasties.

NortonLifeLock, producers of the Norton PC, mobile and Mac anti-virus software know this and have already planned ahead releasing the latest version of Norton 360 Premium.

From the box (or rather redemption code) the 360 Premium is good to go for all known cyber threats and during the course of the 12 month subscription with it’s very own Norton Lifelock. The software will update it’s anti-virus database so you can play, work and browse with full protection.

The Norton 360 Premium anti-virus is also configurable. Hell, it sure needs to be.

At times legitimate software and executables on PC can be flagged as spammy by an anti-virus. The free ones tend to prohibit yourself from allowing this function – not so with 360 Premium.

With my use of this new edition of Norton 360 Premium I found that the dashboard is intuitive, super easy to navigate and save settings for protecting your device and your internet connectivity are super easy to work through to play around with the settings for all features anti-malware, firewall, spam and phishing aswell as your very own secure VPN.

The VPN means that you can securely access your own designated files remotely through the Norton App on a smart device. Norton 360 Premium also comes with a 50GB cloud service too.

This new annual edition offers up protection for five devices within your household, Android, Windows, OSX and iOS are all covered. Norton 360 Premium also has a secure Password storage database.

For smartphones and tablets though you will need the App from the respective devices App Store.

Norton 360 Premium does not cause your PC or Mac to lag either.

Past anti-virus software has been known to be resource hungry. Unless you have a kitted out, high spec gaming RIG then you were in for as slow computing experience.

Over the years they have got better and like last years offering from Norton, it doesn’t make a dent even in small to medium spec’d PCs even when doing a system scan, which you can schedule yourself to auto-run.

Norton 360 Premium is designed with the basic to expert level user in mind, feature rich and is a cost effective way to protect your smart device investments for the entire family.

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