What do we know about bad bots?
In 2016, approximately 185 million new Internet users went online, with the vast majority of these coming from nations like India. This represents a huge increase in the market. However, while the Internet population continues to grow, there has also been an increase in bots as well. The word "bot" covers a wide variety of automated programs: while some source data for search engines and help people match their queries with the most appropriate websites, others are not so helpful.
In the past year, bad bots accounted for 19.9 percent of all website traffic -- a 6.98 percent increase over the same time in 2015. Bad bots interact with applications in the same way a legitimate user would, making them harder to prevent. However, the results are harmful: for example, bad bots can take data from sites without permission while others undertake criminal activities such as ad fraud and account theft.
NuAns ditches Windows 10 Mobile, new Neo Reloaded smartphone runs Android
Without trying to sound like a broken record, there's really no future in Windows 10 Mobile. If it wasn't clear years ago, it is crystal clear now. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw a new manufacturer embracing the platform last year, and a niche one at that. That was NuAns with its Neo handset, which is probably the last memorable smartphone released with Windows on board.
A year later the company is unsurprisingly admitting defeat. NuAns is replacing the Neo with the Neo Reloaded, which, you guessed it, runs Android this time around. The smartphone just hit Indiegogo, and you can get one for as little as $355.
Many UK SMBs don't have a succession plan
More than half (52 percent) of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK’s IT sector have no idea what they’d do if key staffers decide to quit. This is according to a new report by the Aldermore Future Attitudes, which claims these businesses are lacking a succession plan.
The report puts things in a dangerous perspective -- 22 percent of SME IT businesses see senior executives leaving as their biggest business threat.
Amazon makes Alexa a fashionista with all-new Echo Look
Amazon Echo, and the associated Alexa voice assistant, are wildly popular. This is fairly surprising, as you would expect such a successful product to come from Apple or Google. While the latter has since launched its "Home" competitor, Amazon's offering still reigns supreme in the hearts and minds of consumers.
Not satisfied with resting on its laurels, today, Amazon announces that it is pushing the envelope even further. You see, the company will be launching a new product -- Echo Look. This device works with Alexa like the other Echo products, but with a unique twist -- it has a camera. No, it is not designed for communications, but instead, for fashion. The Echo Look will help you look stylish, by taking your photo or video in an outfit, and making suggestions.
New developer kit helps secure IoT devices
The rapid growth in numbers of IoT devices has seen them become a favored attack route for cyber criminals. This has left companies looking for a way to integrate strong security into millions of devices.
To address this problem, security platform Mocana is launching a new developer kit that provides businesses, who may not have deep cybersecurity or cryptography expertise, with a way to simplify the integration of hardware-based security features into IoT devices.
Western Digital now shipping the 12TB HGST Ultrastar He12 Helium 7200 RPM Enterprise HDD
Thanks to media streaming and cloud storage, many home consumers no longer need massive hard disk drives. Instead, a fast SSD with a lesser capacity can often meet needs. Of course that isn't a fact for everyone -- some folks still prefer local storage, and mechanical HDDs are ideal from a cost perspective.
Home users aside, businesses still largely have a need for hard drives with large capacities. Trade secrets and customer information can't always be stored in the cloud. While some data centers are embracing solid state drives for better performance, that is not really cost effective at this time. Today, Western Digital begins shipping the 12TB HGST Ultrastar He12 Helium 7200 RPM hard disk drive. This is a HDD with monstrous capacity that is designed for the enterprise.
SteelSeries launches QcK Prism dual-surface RGB illuminated premium gaming mousepad
When you are a PC gamer that seemingly already owns everything for gaming, what is left to buy? Besides your hardcore gaming rig, you probably already have a mechanical keyboard, mouse, and headset, right? Heck, you may even have a fancy mousepad. But does your pad even glow, bro?
Today, SteelSeries launches the QcK Prism dual-surface RGB illuminated premium gaming mousepad. Yeah, it is a gaming mousepad that glows thanks to RGB lighting. While not the first RGB mousepad, SteelSeries says it is the first-ever dual-sided variant. You see, one side is cloth, while the other is hard plastic.
New platform uses behavioral science to cut cyber security risks
With the right training and knowledge, many cyber attacks can be avoided. Addressing this human aspect of security is the idea behind a new platform from British start-up CybSafe.
Human error is a major cause of data breaches and security training needs to be able to positively change user behavior.
Flexible working is great -- as long as you do it right
Is flexible working all it’s cracked up to be? It’s a question that’s popped up a lot recently, following IBM’s recent "clampdown" on remote working. It’s a valid question. In a world of apps, robots, drones and countless other technological advancements, it’s important to challenge what’s valuable and what isn’t.
For this reason, we recently did some research into workers across the globe on the topic of flexible working. There were some interesting findings across the 25,000+ global workers surveyed, but in answer to the question; yes, flexible working is all it’s cracked up to be. If it’s done right.
Arcserve launches new email archiving technology for businesses
Businesses of all sizes are under increasing pressure to protect corporate email records and make them easily accessible for audits and legal discovery.
Data protection and recovery specialist Arcserve has acquired email archiving technology FastArchiver and is making it available through its Arcserve UDP solution portfolio. UDP Archiving efficiently stores archived on-premise, public or private cloud email in a location independent of the primary mail system.
Dalenryder Password Generator is a versatile security toolkit
Dalenryder Password Generator is an interesting collection of simple security tools, nicely presented in a big-buttoned, touch-friendly interface.
Tap "Quick Password" and the program generates and displays a strong 12-character long password. You can optionally include symbols or change the password length to anything from 4 to 30 characters, then generate a password and copy it to the clipboard in a couple of clicks.
77 percent of British consumers have worries about new payment methods
This week South Korea takes the first steps towards becoming a coinless society as shoppers will be handed pre-paid cards instead of change in a country-wide trial. If the trial is successful, bank officials will allow change to be transferred straight into the shoppers' bank accounts by next year.
But a new report from global law firm Paul Hastings shows that security fears are preventing many British consumers embracing new payment technologies. The study of over 2,000 consumers finds 77 percent are worried about using new payment methods.
With little fanfare, Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update begins to roll out
Windows 10 Creators Update began to roll out to compatible PCs and tablets two weeks ago, and Microsoft announced its arrival with plenty of blog posts and new videos.
Today, the Creators Update for Windows 10 Mobile formally begins its roll out, with that announcement made in a simple tweet. It comes as no surprise that the arrival of such a noteworthy update should receive so little fanfare, seeing as Windows 10 Mobile doesn't have much of a market share as it is, and the Creators Update only works on 13 phones.
FalseGuide malware infects millions of Android users via Google Play
Malware is something of a recurring problem for Android users, and it seems as though Google is fighting a never-ending battle to keep the blight out of the Play Store. The latest large-scale batch to be discovered takes the form of adware known as FalseGuide.
As you may have guessed from the name -- and your own experience of Google Play -- this malware spreads by fooling people into installing apps purporting to be guides to popular games. The apps themselves are fairly innocuous -- and often are guides as they claim to be -- but they then download additional modules which can be used to bombard users with ads.
How deception-based technology is turning the tables on hackers [Q&A]
Cyber attacks are constantly evolving and consequently businesses are always seeking new ways of defending themselves. This is as much about understanding the nature of attacks as about preventing them.
One of the latest developments is the use of deception, employing camouflaged traps and tokens to throw the attackers off balance by detecting and understanding the nature of the attack and their plans.
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