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Insider threats are a major problem for all types of organization and more than ever firms are looking for data loss prevention strategies.

Cyber security specialist Symantec is integrating Bay Dynamics' Risk Fabric analytics platform with its data loss prevention and other technologies, to create a central point of behavioral analytics that dynamically delivers mitigation actions to keep malicious insiders from stealing sensitive data.

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Anyone subject to secret surveillance by the FBI through access to their private data remains unentitled to be told about the related national security letters (NSLs). The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that existing gagging orders that prevent companies from advising people about NSLs relating to them do not violate the First Amendment.

A case had been brought to court by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of Cloudfare and CREDO Mobile that challenged the legitimacy of the gagging orders. EFF won its case back in 2013, but subsequent changes to the law, coupled with the appeal court ruling, means that companies are still unable to inform customers about the existence of national security letters relating to their accounts.

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Businesses aren't doing enough to guard against the security risks presented by ex-employees, according to new research from identity management firm OneLogin.

The study finds that nearly half (48 percent) of respondents are aware of former employees who still have access to corporate applications, with 50 percent of IT decision-makers ex-employee's accounts remaining active once they have left the company for longer than a day.

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A lightning-fast raid on a cryptocurrency platform's website earned a hacker $7 million in three minutes yesterday. Moments after CoinDash launched its ICO (Initial Coin Offering, the cryptocurrency version of an IPO), the attacker modified the address of the wallet it used and watched as millions poured into their own account.

The website was shut down as soon as the hack was discovered, but by this time $7 million had already disappeared. CoinDash managed to gather $6 million from investors, but funds stopped arriving with the shutdown.

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Always-listening home virtual assistants can be absolute privacy nightmares, but they are oh so convenient too. Whether you select Amazon Echo or Google Home, you have to decide if you trust the company behind the assistant that is monitoring your home. Look, having a microphone or camera in your living room or bedroom can be scary, but if you are OK with it, you are rewarded with some great functionality, such as controlling IoT devices and getting instant answers to all of your questions. I am privacy-conscious, but I love Alexa too -- such a quandary!

If you live in Australia, and wanted Google Home, you have been out of luck. This is changing, however, as the standalone assistant hardware is coming to that country. If you want to ask questions about, say, The Perth Mint or the great actor Yahoo Serious, you will be able to buy the search-giant's hardware to do so. In addition, the Google Wifi router system is coming to the land down under too.

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Britain's roads are about to get much smarter and more connected following a new deal signed this week.

Highways England, the Government company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England’s motorways and major A roads, has signed a £6.7m multi-year contract with technology firm Advanced to be its strategic IT partner.

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There are a lot of Linux-based operating systems in the wild, and I suggest trying as many as you can. Think of it like fruit -- apples are great, but you shouldn't stop after just tasting it. The world is full of different choices, such as mangoes, bananas, and oranges. The more you try, the more your knowledge expands. The same can be said of Linux -- even if you really like, say, Ubuntu, you should also test Fedora, Mageia, and more. Expand your mind!

Today, yet another distro hits a major milestone; SparkyLinux achieves version 5.0. Called "Nibiru," it is a rolling release operating system that is based on the popular Debian (using modern testing repos). It aims to be lightweight, with choices of three desktop environments that are easy on resources -- LXQt, MATE, and Xfce. In other words, Sparky can breathe new life into aging computers. If you have meager hardware, you should definitely give it a look.

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Businesses are still failing to ensure they are protecting themselves effectively online, despite the growing number of damaging security threats, a new report from BT has claimed.

The UK phone giant has teamed up with KPMG for a new guide advising businesses as to how they can stay safe online when facing the number of complex challenges involved in running a business during this rapidly-changing time.

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USB-C is the future, and if your computer doesn't have the connector, I feel sorry for you. While it isn't a necessity at the moment, it will be eventually. Luckily, you can sometimes leverage adapters and cables to connect a Type-C device to a machine that is Type-A only.

Speaking of USB-C devices, ADATA has a new 3D NAND External SSD that uses that connector. Called "SE730H," it is the successor to the company's diminutive "SE730." Not only does the new model offer higher capacities, but the 3D TLC NAND should lend to improved longevity. While it uses 3.1 gen 2, the drive tops out at 500MB/s for both read and write. The "H" variant retains the same good looks and MIL-STD-810G/IP68 water and dust proofing as the prior model too.

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Apple is using World Emoji Day to preview upcoming emoji that will feature in iOS, macOS and watchOS later in the year. The new emoji include breastfeeding, a zombie, a woman in a headscarf, and a bearded man.

The company says that "the new emoji make it easier for users to express themselves with greater diversity, additional animals and creatures, new smiley faces and more," but not everyone is going to take it quite that seriously. Still... zombies!

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The Creators Update rollout is continuing at a glacial pace, with most Windows 10 users yet to be offered it. The reason for this is Microsoft wants to make sure the update is fully compatible with PCs before it’s pushed to them (you can, of course, download and install the update manually at any time).

However, it turns out there’s a whole class of PCs running Windows 10 that simply can’t be upgraded to the Creators Update. And these aren’t old PCs either.

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According to the United States Department of Homeland Security, border officials are permitted to search the devices of anyone entering the country with or without probable cause, though there is a limit to type of content they can view.

Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to Homeland Security in February seeking clarification regarding why US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been conducting more searches than ever before.

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You may not need an app to access LinkedIn from a Windows 10 PC, but the Microsoft-owned professional social network believes that it can offer users something that a browser cannot: a better user experience.

The LinkedIn app for Windows 10, which is rolling out now in Windows Store, promises to be "more engaging and fully integrated" with the operating system, thanks to features like real-time notifications and trending news.

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Samsung is entering into an "extended partnership" with PayPal to bring PayPal support to Samsung Pay. To start with, PayPal will be available as a payment method in the US first, but it will expand to other countries in the future.

It means that not only can PayPal be used as a source to fund Samsung Pay for POS purchases, but Samsung's Braintree merchants will also be able to accept PayPal payments for online and in-app purchases.

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Over the weekend, distress rippled around the HTC community as advertisements suddenly appeared in the TouchPal keyboard. The keyboard is installed as the default on many of HTC's Android phones, including the HTC 10, and users took to social media to voice their unhappiness and concerns about privacy.

Despite the ire directed at the Taiwanese company, HTC is not directly responsible for the keyboard, or the update that pushed ads onto people. Rather, the developer issued an update resulting in the SNAFU that upset so many people.

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