Amer Owaida

Amer Owaida

Security Writer


Education M.A. in translation and interpreting.

Highlights of your career Working as a copywriter and freelancing as a translator while thinking in the correct language.

Position and history at ESET Joined in the fall of 2019 as security writer.

What malware do you hate the most? Adware, annoying the living daylight out of me since forever.

Favorite activities Drinking coffee while reading a book, exploring new places, trying new things..

Golden rule for cyberspace Don’t trust and always verify, always use a Gandalf level adblocker.

When did you get your first computer and what kind was it? A Pentium 3 powered pc with a GeForce card lacking a pixel shader, around the year 2000 so dial up modems were still a thing.

Favorite computer game/activity Assassin’s Creed or God of War spinning myths and history in fun alternative ways.


339 articles by Amer Owaida

Data for 700 million LinkedIn users up for grabs on hacker forum

Data for 700 million LinkedIn users up for grabs on hacker forum

Data for 700 million LinkedIn users up for grabs on hacker forum

Information scraped from LinkedIn user profiles includes full names, gender, email addresses and phone numbers

Amer Owaida • 29 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read


Gaming industry under siege from cyberattacks during pandemic

Gaming industry under siege from cyberattacks during pandemic

Gaming industry under siege from cyberattacks during pandemic

Cyberattacks targeting the gaming industry skyrocket, with web attacks more than tripling year-on-year in 2020

Amer Owaida • 24 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read


Brave launches its own, privacy-focused search engine

Brave launches its own, privacy-focused search engine

Brave launches its own, privacy-focused search engine

Brave's search engine takes on Google, promising to let users surf the web without leaving a trace

Amer Owaida • 23 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read


How to tell if a website is safe

How to tell if a website is safe

How to tell if a website is safe

It can be difficult to tell a legitimate website apart from an unsafe one – follow these steps to identify and protect yourself from bad websites

Amer Owaida • 23 Jun 2021 • 8 min. read


Most health apps engage in unhealthy data-harvesting habits

Most health apps engage in unhealthy data-harvesting habits

Most health apps engage in unhealthy data-harvesting habits

Most medical and fitness apps in Google Play have tracking capabilities enabled and their data collection practices aren’t transparent

Amer Owaida • 17 Jun 2021 • 3 min. read


Microsoft takes down large-scale BEC operation

Microsoft takes down large-scale BEC operation

Microsoft takes down large-scale BEC operation

The fraudsters ran their campaigns from the cloud and used phishing attacks and email forwarding rules to steal financial information

Amer Owaida • 15 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read


Google fixes actively exploited Chrome zero-day

Google fixes actively exploited Chrome zero-day

Google fixes actively exploited Chrome zero-day

The latest Chrome update patches a bumper crop of security flaws across the browser’s desktop versions

Amer Owaida • 10 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read


Hundreds of suspected criminals arrested after being tricked into using FBI‑run chat app

Hundreds of suspected criminals arrested after being tricked into using FBI‑run chat app

Hundreds of suspected criminals arrested after being tricked into using FBI‑run chat app

Law enforcement around the world used a messaging app called AN0M to monitor the communications of alleged criminals

Amer Owaida • 08 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read


Zero-day in popular WordPress plugin exploited to take over websites

Zero-day in popular WordPress plugin exploited to take over websites

Zero-day in popular WordPress plugin exploited to take over websites

Websites using Fancy Product Designer are susceptible to remote code execution attacks even if the plugin is deactivated

Amer Owaida • 03 Jun 2021 • 2 min. read