Given all the spying that goes on these days it's no wonder that people are looking for more private ways to get online and stay in touch with one another. Secure email -- which is what Edward Snowden chose to use for his communications with journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian -- is proving more and more popular.

Unfortunately, not everyone is keen on such services. One such secure email provider, ProtonMail, has been taken down today, by a DDoS attack. Who would want to attack the service? That's the million dollar question and the list of potential attackers could be quite long. A bevvy of agencies have spoken out against encryption, going so far as asking for backdoors into data, blithely oblivious to the consequences of such action. ProtonMail was designed securely and doesn't possess records of correspondence, so law enforcement can't demand data.

Continue reading →

As we've seen with IBM's announcement earlier today, APIs are flavor of the development month at the moment.

Now the The Linux Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux and collaborative development, is announcing the launch of an Open API Initiative to promote and facilitate the adoption and use of an open API standard.

Continue reading →

Kaspersky Lab has released a new report on the evolution of distributed denial of service (DDoS) and it shows some interesting figures, including the fact that a server was targeted for 320 hours straight.

The Kaspersky DDoS Intelligence Report Q3 2015 is based on the constant monitoring of botnets and observing new techniques utilized by cybercriminals. It shows that DDoS attacks remain highly localized, with 91.6 percent of the victims’ resources located in only ten countries around the world, although Kaspersky Lab has recorded DDoS attacks targeting servers in 79 countries total.

Continue reading →

Gartner predicts that by 2016 more than 50 percent of mobile apps will be hybrid, combining elements of both native and Web applications.

This allows apps to benefit from the portability of HTML5 Web apps along with a container that allows access to a device's native features. For businesses they offer faster development with easier updating and management.

Continue reading →

There’s no avoiding it; ad-blocking is a direct result of consumer demand. Adland has had its own way for too long and now the traffic is two-way we should view this as an opportunity to hit the reset button.

Let’s get this in context however; announcements such as Apple’s recent iOS9 update may have raised the profile of ad-blocking, but uptake is far from exponential. We’re not facing the Adpocalypse here, what we’re looking at is the balance being redressed.

Continue reading →

Clean sites with low load times and fewer pages to navigate are more likely to get consumers to spend money according to new research.

The survey by Instart Logic of 2,000 US consumers also shows that consumer confidence in a brand is tied to their quality of experience while online shopping.

Continue reading →

You've likely seen some of the beauty of New Zealand. It's been on display in such movies as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the Narnia movies. It truly lends itself to the Middle Earth feel with the breathtaking landscapes. But the movies only show you parts of this paradise.

Google is taking on yet another wild destination, hauling its Trekker technology down to Australia's neighbor for what it terms a walk on the wild side.

Continue reading →

Top-end specs, a large screen, near-vanilla Android, and a price tag on the South side of $400 make OnePlus 2 a force to be reckoned in the battle for the "Smartphone of the year" award. It certainly has what it takes to get consumers' attention, as over four million reservations were made in the first couple of weeks after launch. But, hype can only get the "2016 flagship killer" so far. Question is, does it live up to it?

I have used a OnePlus 2, in 64GB trim, as my daily driver for well over a month now to find out whether it is worthy of its self-given title, and how it stacks up against some of the flagships it has in its sights, like Apple's bigger iPhone.

Continue reading →

Business information leaders are keen to adopt the benefits of the cloud according to a new study by data protection company Bitglass.

The company surveyed nearly 100 CIOs and IT leaders attending the Gartner Symposium IT Expo in Orlando, to better understand their top challenges for 2016 and how they plan to address them.

Continue reading →

Most internet security suites include some kind of browsing protection which blocks access to known malicious websites.

But if you don’t have anything installed -- or you’d just like to add a second layer of protection -- then you might be interested in the Windows freeware Hosts Block.

Continue reading →

Today the BBC launched a new online store where its back catalog of programming can be found. Featuring classics such as Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Orphan Black, the BBC Store provides a way to buy digital copies of your favorite shows... if you're in the UK, at least.

At the moment the store includes around 7,000 hours of viewing, but more of the BBC archive will be added over time -- and there are more than four million items for the corporation to add. Although the store is run by the license fee-funded BBC, content is not free of charge. Box sets start at around £8, while one-offs can be bought for much less.

Continue reading →

APIs are the glue which allow different parts of systems data and logic to connect and they’re changing the way businesses and IT departments work.

But whilst they make life easier for the user, they present new challenges for enterprises and developers who need to ensure security and management of APIs at the back end, while maintaining a dynamic consumer experience at the front end.

Continue reading →

Increasingly the security industry is looking for alternatives to the hard to manage and all too easily compromised password.

Biometrics like fingerprints and retinal scans are starting to make ground, but California-based two-factor authentication specialist  SecureAuth has announced a new partnership with BehavioSec which aims to use behavioral analysis as a security tool.

Continue reading →

People who are already awaiting the 2016 Apple iPhones may see a new all-metal, four-inch device, along with the iPhone 7, according to an analyst from KGI Securities.

Ming-Chi Kuo said he believes that the tech giant is currently working on a four-inch iPhone that "resembles an upgraded iPhone 5s" with an A9 processor.

Continue reading →

Rooting a phone is something that many people decide to do to allow them to do things and use apps that would not otherwise be possible. If you make the choice, you are in control. But security researchers at Lookout have discovered a new form of malware disguised as apps from the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

While some of the apps are partially functional, the malware has a nasty payload: it could be quietly rooting your phone in the background. Lookout has identified three families of malware -- Shuanet, ShiftyBug, and Shedun -- that can be found in more than 20,000 apps in Google Play. Once installed, the malware is almost impossible to remove.

Continue reading →