Tag Archives: Mcafee

McAfee, Google and Verizon Help Protect Smart Homes at CES 2019

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McAfee announced new innovations in the connected home space with Verizon and Google to help advance and simplify the process of protecting today’s smart home. With 10.5 billion connected devices expected in homes by 2020, it is essential that consumers consider cybersecurity solutions that go beyond traditional AV and extend protection to IoT devices.

McAfee announced the launch of the new McAfee Secure Home Platform voice commands for the Google Assistant. The McAfee Secure Home Platform is available for device manufacturers worldwide to integrate into routers and gateways.

With this forthcoming Google Assistant Integration, customers with a McAfee Secure Home Platform-enabled router and compatible Assistant devices will be able to easily use voice commands to customize and monitor security of their connected homes.

McAfee Secure Home Platform provides a built-in layer of security that automatically protects internet-connected devices on the home network from a variety of threats and delivers comprehensive parental controls.

As people bring the Internet of Things (IoT) devices into their homes for increased convenience and efficiency, the amount of information shared with and collected by these gadgets also increases. As a result, customers must think about security not only for protecting traditional devices like PCs, laptops and smartphones, but also for connected home items like smart appliances, gaming consoles and more.

Consumers can use their voice to manage McAfee Secure Home Platform features with Google Assistant-enabled devices. A partial list of commands includes:

  • “Hey Google, how many devices are connected to my home router network.” This provides users with the number of devices connected to the network.
  • “Hey Google, scan my home router network.” This will scan IoT/connected devices for known weaknesses.

McAfee also announced its collaboration with Verizon to provide protection throughout the home network with Verizon’s Home Network Protection (HNP).

The McAfee-powered solution provides Verizon Fios customers with a seamless and easy-to-use security solution that protects against malicious websites, provides parental controls and helps keep devices connected to the home network, including IoT devices, protected.

Verizon Home Network Protection (HNP) is currently available to Verizon Fios customers and is included in the price of the Verizon Quantum Gateway Router.

Key Features and Benefits:

  • Simple to Manage: Monitors and controls the entire home network via the MyFios app from anywhere
  • Parental Controls: Customers can set rules and time limits for specific websites and general internet use
  • New Device Notification: Identifies and approves any devices that connect to a user’s home network and blocks unauthorized users
  • Pause Home Internet: Temporarily stops internet access for devices
  • Malicious Site Blocking: Stops bad websites from accessing devices before they are exposed to threats

Visit McAfee at CES 2019 at the Venetian Tower Suite 35-310.

Cornflicker and the April Fool’s Day Joke of Doom

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How many of the geeks out there are safe from Conflicker, a nasty little worm set to go all doomsday on us on April 1st? Hopefully, 99.9% of us are (there’s never a 100% guarantee). I know I am, as is every machine on my home network and that I have control over at work.

But what about those family members that are far away, or at least aren’t using a machine on our home networks? What happens on April 1st to them? Are they protected? And how can you help them find out if they are infected, and get them cleaned up pronto?

A great little article in USAToday listed an easy way to check and see if a machine is infected. Using the browser, go to any of these three sites:

microsoft.com
symantec.com
mcafee.com

If these sites load in any browser, then Conflicker is not installed on the machine and things are good. But to be on the safe side, you should also be sure whatever virus program is being used is updated and being updated automatically.

If you cannot get to those sites in the browser, then you have Conflicker on your PC. And this baby isn’t easy to get rid of. The article suggested two different sites to try:

Enigma’s Conflicker removal tool
Microsoft’s removal tool

The Enigma and Microsoft tools work because Conflicker doesn’t have their URLa blacklisted inside the worm. That may change as Conflicker mutates, but for now the removal tool is available (and free) from both places. I tried the Enigma one myself and downloaded and installed it very easily. The Microsoft site seemed to be overloaded and I could not fully test it, but Microsoft also claims that if you still can’t get help from their site, you can call them toll-free at 1-866-PCSAFETY.

This is one April Fool’s joke I hope we can all avoid.