mining-bitcoin

Cryptominers dominate 2018's malware landscape

The four most prevalent malware types in 2018 were cryptominers and they impacted 37 percent of organizations globally.

The latest security report from Check Point shows that despite a fall in the value of all cryptocurrencies, 20 percent of companies continue to be hit by cryptomining attacks every week. At the same time ransomware attacks have fallen sharply, impacting just four percent of organizations globally.

By Ian Barker -
BitTorrent

Torrent-Paradise launches a Pirate Bay alternative that takes decentralization to the next level

While the BitTorrent protocol is, by its very nature, decentralized, the same cannot be said of torrent search engines such as the Pirate Bay. Torrent-Paradise, however, is a little different.

A new version of the site uses the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to provide decentralized torrent searching. The idea behind how the system works is very similar to the way BitTorrent makes it possible to download files without the need for a central host.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
DDoS attack start

Two-thirds of DDoS attacks target communications service providers

Communications service providers were targeted by 65.5 percent of DDoS attacks in the third quarter of 2018 according to a new report.

The Q3 2018 Threat Report from Nexusguard shows attackers contaminated a diverse pool of IP addresses across hundreds of IP prefixes by using very small-sized junk traffic.

By Ian Barker -
WhatsApp mobile icon

WhatsApp imposes five-recipient limit on forwarded messages to limit 'misinformation and rumors'

All social networks and messaging tools have been used as platforms to distribute fake news. Companies have taken various steps -- such as introducing fact-checking -- to help curb these problems, and now the Facebook-owned WhatsApp is introducing new measures that limit the number of people users can forward a message to.

The company has previously allowed messages to be forwarded to up to 20 people, but now -- in a bid to limit the spread of "misinformation and rumors" -- this has been reduced to just five.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
iPhoneSE2019

Apple selling iPhone SE again, and you should totally consider buying it

All supported iPhone smartphones are better than all Android devices. That's a bold statement, I know, but it's true. Don't misunderstand, there are some great Android devices with superior hardware and specs, but that is sort of irrelevant. If you want a safe and secure smartphone that will receive consistent operating system updates, iOS is the only true option. Sadly, the state of Android is still fragmentation and an app store full of knock-offs and malware. Despite a recent slowdown in sales, iPhone remains the king.

Unfortunately, Apple's iPhone smartphones are quite expensive. Many consumers that want an iPhone are simply priced out of the experience. And so, I can understand someone buying a $200 Android device -- there's nothing wrong with living within your means and staying on budget. If you want to join the iPhone family, however, I have some amazing news. Out of the blue, Apple has started selling the iPhone SE as a clearance item for an insanely low price.

By Brian Fagioli -
Black and white Apple store logo

Court orders Apple to withdraw misleading statement about iPhone availability

As part of its ongoing legal battles with Qualcomm, Apple was last month banned from selling the iPhone 7 and 8 in Germany. Despite this, the company issued a press release stating that the handsets would remain available through thousands of resellers.

Now a court has ordered Apple to stop making this claim, with the ruling describing this section of the press release as "misleading" and "potentially deceptive".

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Heatsink_img3.jpg.imgw.500.500

Western Digital announces WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD with optional heatsink

NVMe solid state drives are quite incredible. They offer insane speeds that put SATA SSDs to shame. With that said, many -- if not most -- consumers do not really need such performance. In other words, if your PC already has a 2.5-inch SATA SSD, it probably isn't worth upgrading. Simply put, your real life performance gains will be negligible. With that said, if you need a new SSD, and your computer is compatible, it would be foolish not to go NVMe -- prices have gotten quite affordable.

Today, Western Digital unveils its latest NVMe drive, and it looks wonderful. The "WD Black SN750," as it is called, features several capacities and price points, making it achievable for most consumers -- even those on a budget. Best of all, you can opt for a variant with a heatsink, which will cool it down, and in theory, prevent throttled performance. Why wouldn't you want the heatsink? Depending on your computer -- laptops in particular, although some desktops too -- it may not physically fit.

By Brian Fagioli -
nerd_man_think_red_hair_glasses

Purism 'PureOS Store' will be for both desktop and mobile apps, and that's a mistake

Purism is a company that focuses on privacy, security, and open source ideology. What's not to love? It already manufactures Linux-powered laptops with cool features like hardware kill switches for webcam and wireless radios. This way, you can be confident that your hardware is less likely be hacked and used to spy on you.

The company's core values are noble and respectable, but financially, this won't necessarily signal success. In fact, competing with the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Apple for desktop computing is a very hard task. Even harder? Breaking into the mobile business which is dominated by iOS and Android. And yet, Purism plans to launch the Librem 5 smartphone (running Linux-based PureOS) at some point in the future. Of course, such a device will need an app store, so PureOS has finally revealed the name of its upcoming offering -- the unimaginatively named PureOS Store. Sadly, this will be an attempt to merge mobile and desktop into a single store.

By Brian Fagioli -
Password on a PostIt

How to export your saved passwords from Google Chrome

From social media sites to online stores, from forum accounts to financial institutions -- there are now so many websites that require the use of a username and password, it's little wonder than so many of us turn to some form of password manager to save them.

If you use Google's Chrome browser, you have almost certainly saved numerous passwords so you don't have to manually enter them every time they are requested. You may have wondered how to export these passwords for the purposes of backing them up, or to import into another password manager. Here, we show you how.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Hi, I'm Cortana

Microsoft concedes that Cortana can't -- and won't -- compete with Alexa and Google Assistant

Microsoft has seemingly admitted defeat in the digital assistant wars, with CEO Satya Nadella saying he does not want to compete with Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant.

Rather than planning a Cortana-powered smart speaker or other device, Nadella has demoted Cortana, signaling that Microsoft wants to focus on bringing it to other platforms as a "skill". He believes users should be able to use Alexa or Google Assistant to call on the capabilities of Cortana through close integration.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
emby-200x175

Emby Server 4 adds live TV guide data, boosts performance across the board

Anyone who’s got a load of digital media lying about needs a media server, and while the obvious solution is to install Kodi or Plex, you might be missing a trick.

Although it’s still overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Emby Server 4.0 has just been released for Windows, Mac and Linux, plus is now available for Nvidia Shield and Android devices too.

By Nick Peers -
Scared_Man_Laptop

Windows 10 October 2018 Update finally starts its phased rollout -- here's how to block it

The Windows 10 October 2018 update, aka Windows 10 version 1809, aka the botched update that deleted user files, caused default app issues, broke Apple iCloud, Edge, and Windows Store apps, and introduced a bunch of other problems, is finally rolling out to all -- well most -- users.

The update was first released at the start of last October, but then pulled a few days later when the scale of its problems become noticed. It was re-released in November, with a bunch of new problems. Microsoft has been working to fix these, and last month made 1809 available to 'advanced users' -- that is users who know how to manually check for updates.

By Wayne Williams -
Cloud growth arrow

Enterprise IT continues to move to the cloud

Cloud adoption in enterprises is already very high and growth is likely to continue in 2019 according to the latest cloud adoption survey from NetEnrich.

The study of IT decision makers in businesses with 500 or more employees shows 85 percent of respondents report either moderate or extensive production use of cloud infrastructure, while 80 percent say their companies have moved at least a quarter of all their applications and workloads to the public cloud.

By Ian Barker -
Wi-Fi password

How to view Wi-Fi passwords in Windows

You have probably used your laptop in all sorts of places. As well as at home and in the office, you may well have used it in hotels, coffee shops and other locations that offer Wi-Fi access.

As such, you've almost certainly got a large number of Wi-Fi passwords saved on your computer, passwords that are seemingly inaccessible. But these saved passwords are accessible -- if you know where to look, that is. This is handy if you need the password to get your phone online, or another laptop. Here's how to recover saved Wi-Fi passwords.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
frustrated

Poor information management harms productivity

Poor information management processes are making jobs harder for staff and reducing their productivity and effectiveness in the workplace, according to new research from information management specialist M-Files Corporation.

Navigating different systems and locations to find the correct version of a file they are looking for negatively affects productivity according to 82 percent of respondents.

By Ian Barker -
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