Free Wi-Fi and the dangers of mobile Man-in-the-Middle attacks
We’ve known for a long time that public Wi-Fi is one of the weakest links in mobile security. But what is proving even weaker is public awareness of just how vulnerable that connection technology can be.
According to iPass, which tracks the global growth of Wi-Fi, there are now 54 million Wi-Fi hotspots in the US, representing a 4,414 percent increase since 2013. Many of these Wi-Fi hotspots are insecure, leaving users open to cyber attack and at risk of significant financial loss. In our recent study Uncovering the True Costs of Enterprise Mobility, 28 percent of US companies report having suffered a mobile breach in the last 12 months -- with the cost of remedying the breach at $250,000 to $400,000 in many cases.
Google ditches Hangouts in favour of Duo as a required Android app
Starting in December, smartphone manufacturers will no longer be required to install Hangouts on their handsets. Instead, phone makers will need to provide users with the recently-launched Duo.
This is not to say that Hangouts is being killed off -- not yet, at least. But Duo, complete with end-to-end encryption, will replace the app as part of the core Google Mobile Services package.
Discover what malware is doing online with FakeNet
FakeNet is a clever Windows tool which tries to detect and display common web access attempts on your PC.
The program isn’t just another packet capture tool. Instead FakeNet redirects internet traffic and handles it locally, so you’ll see any attempts to download "www.server.com/trojan.exe" but they won’t succeed.
Facebook's new Events app helps you discover what's going on near you
If you're a keen Facebook user, you may well have accepted invites to events advertised on the social network. To help make your life a little easier, Facebook has now launched a new, dedicated app called simply Events from Facebook to more easily find out what's going on nearby.
More than this, the app can pull in information from your existing calendar so you can see all of your events and appointments in one place to avoid double-booking yourself. It's iOS-only for the time being, but an Android version of the app is in the pipeline.
Russia accused of hacking US voting system and interfering with the 2016 election
There is only a month to go until the election showdown between Trump and Clinton finally comes to an end. There is a great deal riding on the result of this particular election and we have already seen DNC servers hacked.
There has been speculation about who may have been responsible for this security breach, but now the US has pointed the finger firmly at Putin's Russia. Russian hackers are accused of hacking into the Democratic National Committee's servers and trying "to interfere with the US election process".
Microsoft set to reveal the future for Windows 10 on October 26
Windows 10 is, it’s fair to say, a bit of a divisive product. While it hasn’t alienated users to the same degree Windows 8.x did, it hasn’t been universally embraced in the same way that Windows 7 was either.
Part of the reason for that can be laid squarely at Microsoft's door -- the company’s overly aggressive push to get people to upgrade meant a lot of users were put off before they’d even given the new OS a chance.
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14942 arrives on the Fast ring -- introduces several big changes
It’s been a full week since the last Insider Preview build made its way on to the Fast ring, but it’s been worth the wait.
Arriving just in time for the weekend, the latest release, Build 14942, is much more interesting than its predecessor, and introduces some major new features.
Ubuntu Core 16 Beta Linux distro for PC available now -- coming soon to Raspberry Pi
Ubuntu Core is a very different operating system than traditional Ubuntu. While both are Linux distributions, "Core" takes a different approach to package management, using modular "snaps". This way of computing is quite brilliant, as it removes dependencies and keeps everything in its own sort of sandbox. While the focus of Core seems to be the cloud and IoT devices, some people -- including yours truly -- see the writing on the wall. The Core design may eventually become the foundation of regular Ubuntu too.
Today, Canonical announces the latest Ubuntu Core 16 beta with feature freeze. If you are a home desktop Linux user, this is definitely not for you. Instead, this should be tested by developers and those that have a genuine use for Core.
Systemd vulnerability crashes Linux systems
A new vulnerability has been discovered that could shut down most Linux systems using a command short enough to fit in a tweet.
Linux administrator and founder of the security certificate company SSLMate Andrew Ayer discovered the bug, which has the potential to kill a number of critical commands while making others unstable just by entering the short command: NOTIFY_SOCKET=/run/systemd/notify systemd-notify "".
Samsung could be facing another Galaxy Note7 recall
The Galaxy Note7 is back on sale in some markets, but that does not mean that the new units Samsung is shipping are perfectly safe. A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight says that his replacement Galaxy Note7 caught fire, causing minor damage to the plane and the flight to get canceled.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has opened an investigation, basically to find out whether another recall is in order. "If it’s the fixed phone and it started to smoke in his pocket, I’m going to guess there’ll be another recall", says the agency's former executive director, Pamela Gilbert. Does a second recall sound unlikely at this stage? No.
Fewer businesses investing in big data
Market analyst company Gartner has issued a report that says that investment in big data is up, but fewer companies are actually planning on investing in this field. While 48 percent of companies have invested in big data in 2016, up three percent compared to the year before, the percentage those who plan on investing within the next two years is down from 31 to 25 per cent.
According to Paul Cant, EMEA head of enterprise solutions operation for BMC Software, businesses are giving up on big data because they failed to implement it properly and are not really reaping the benefits.
Ransomware becomes biggest security threat on Android
Android users, beware. Ransomware for your favorite mobile operating system is picking up -- it's now the main threat in the US, UK, Germany, Denmark and Australia, in the first half of 2016.
These are the figures from security organization Bitdefender. Its report claims the Android SLocker ransomware family accounts for almost half of all mobile malware reported by infected devices in the first half of 2016 in Denmark.
Runtastic users can now listen to curated Google Play Music playlists during workouts
Any sort of exercise is made a little easier if you're listening to music. With this in mind, Google has teamed up with Runtastic to provide access to curated playlists in Google Play Music for keen runners.
It's a feature that is -- at the moment, at least -- exclusive to Android users, and it makes it easy to choose music that will suit your mood, or the speed at which you're motoring along.
Best Windows apps this week
Two-hundred-and-one in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on Windows Store in the past seven days.
App of the week is MALClient this time, a sophisticated app to manage your anime or manga collection in various ways.
Surprise! Here's Android 7.0 Nougat for OnePlus 3
It's no secret that there's an Android 7.0 Nougat update on the way to the OnePlus 3, but the question is: when?
Of course it is already possible to get Nougat running on your OnePlus 3 if you're willing to install a custom Cyanogenmod 14 build. But what most people are interested in is the official release direct from OnePlus. Well, it's not only in the works, we have a video of it in action.
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