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Halloween used to be a day for children to collect candy and dress up in costumes, but lately, it seems like adults have hijacked the holiday. More and more grownups are dressing up in costumes -- a trend that is probably due in part to the popularization of nerd culture and events like Comic-Con. Hell, people are even dressing up their pets these days -- something I am guilty of. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with wearing a costume and having fun, it is just an interesting change culturally.

This year Google is sharing the top Halloween costumes based on search. Personally, I like when Google provides information like this, because the true value in collecting data is being able to tell stories with it. With the search giant slurping up so much data, it would be tragic if it didn't conduct analysis.

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Small and medium sized businesses continue to be a prime target for cybercriminals according to a new study commissioned by password management company Keeper Security from the Ponemon Institute.

It shows that 76 percent of US companies have been attacked within the last 12 months, up from 55 percent in 2016. Globally, 66 percent of respondents report attacks in the same time frame.

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Despite growing adoption of DMARC technology, fewer than 10 percent of enterprise email domains are protected from impersonation according to a new report from Valimail.

Valimail found that 850,000 domains worldwide now have DMARC records, a five times increase since 2016. However, fewer than 17 percent of global DMARC records are at enforcement -- meaning fake emails that appear to come from those domains are still arriving in recipients’ inboxes.

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Updates for Windows 10 might have been endlessly problematic of late, but Microsoft is still eager for users to update to the latest version of its operating system.

The company has now started to warn users of Windows 10 version 1803 that their software will soon no longer be supported, and will therefore no longer receive any security updates.

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Poor privileged access management practices that lead to people having too much access continue to be a critical challenge for many organizations despite significant risks of data breaches and security incidents.

A new report from technology consulting company Sila and the Ponemon Institute surveyed more than 650 North American respondents and finds 70 percent think it likely that privileged users within their organizations are accessing sensitive or confidential data for no discernible business need.

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Sony has revealed that the next version of its gaming console will stick to the existing pattern and be called PlayStation 5. But the company has revealed much more than the name of the device.

Sony has also announced that the PS5 will launch for the 2020 holiday season, and that it will come complete with a new controller that features haptic technology and adaptive triggers.

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Nearly a quarter of malicious URLs are being hosted on trusted domains, as hackers know trusted domain URLs raise less suspicion among users and are more difficult for security measures to block.

This is one of the findings of the latest Webroot threat report which also shows 29 percent of detected phishing web pages use HTTPS as a method to trick users into believing they're on a trusted site via the padlock symbol.

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Despite the rise of cloud storage, 87 percent of organizations still use USB drives but they are struggling to manage their usage according to a new report.

The study from encrypted drive manufacturer Apricorn reveals that 58 percent don't use port control or whitelisting software to manage USB device usage and 26 percent don't use software-based encryption.

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Adobe is in the process of closing down services in Venezuela in line with US sanctions. Back in August, president Trump barred pretty much all trade with the country (Executive Order 13884).

Adobe's compliance with the sanctions means that Venezuelans will soon lose access to products such as Photoshop and -- more importantly -- have only until October 28 to save their files before they are deleted and accounts are closed.

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Although most security professionals use key performance indicators to measure their efforts they struggle to reconcile these with business goals, according to a new report from Thycotic.

It finds that while 84 percent of respondents have KPIs, and an even higher proportion (92 percent) say they review security in terms of its impact on the business, nearly half (44 percent) say their organization struggles to align security initiatives with the business’s overall goals, while more 35 percent aren't clear what the business goals are.

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Opera Software has released Opera 64, the latest major update to its Chromium-based web browser for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. The major highlight of this new release is the addition of built-in protection against tracking.

Opera claims the new feature, which sits alongside existing VPN and ad-blocking tools, makes the browser 20 percent faster than previous releases. Elsewhere, the browser’s Snapshot screengrab tool also gains several improvements.

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After a period of beta testing, Apple has released macOS 10.15 Catalina for everyone. There's quite a lot to the latest version of the operating system, including the break-up of iTunes, an update to Sidecar that lets you use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac, and numerous security updates.

However, the dropping of support for 32-bit apps (Catalina is fully 64-bit), means some people installing the free update are finding that the apps they rely on no longer work. More than this, Apple has even gone as far as warning people who are reliant on XML files -- such as DJs -- to hold off installing the update for the time being

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Chromebooks used to be glorified web browsers running atop the Linux kernel, but these days, they are far more useful. If you need more than just web apps, you can now run Android apps and traditional desktop Linux programs on Chrome OS. Best of all, you can run them all side by side, making it all feel like a cohesive experience -- it doesn't feel like you are using a mixture of software intended for different platforms.

Today, Samsung launches its latest Chrome OS laptops -- the 11.6-inch Chromebook 4 and 15.6-inch Chromebook 4+. The former weighs just 2.6 pounds, while the latter is a heftier 3.75 pounds. Both laptops are powered by the same Intel Celeron N4000 CPU, and you can choose between 4GB and 6GB of RAM. Strangely, there is no option for 8GB of memory. Storage options are 32GB or 64GB, and sadly, regardless of capacity, you will get a sluggish eMMC drive. Both machines have USB-C and micro SD readers, which is cool, but the Wi-Fi is only 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) -- not the newer 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6).

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Windows Insiders provide feedback on new test builds of Windows 10, and Microsoft has frequently talked up the importance of the community in relation to the development and direction of its newest operating system. In reality, however, Insiders mostly just identify bugs for Microsoft to (maybe) fix.

In recent months there has been a lot of negativity surrounding the quality control of Windows 10, with updates breaking everything from printers to the Start menu.

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Amazon has launched a child-friendly version of its Kindle ereader -- the Kindle Kids Edition.

At $110, this special edition device is slightly more expensive than the cheapest Kindle, but it has one massive advantage that will appeal to parents, kids and others: it is free from ads. But there are lots of other features to cater for young readers, including access to more than 1,000 books, and achievements to encourage reading.

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