Yahoo confirms 'state-sponsored' attack and theft of 500 million account details
Yahoo users who have not changed their passwords for a while are being advised to do so. The company has confirmed that it suffered a major security breach back in 2014 and information relating to 500 million accounts was stolen.
Yahoo says that the attack was carried out by a "state-sponsored actor" but does not elaborate on who it might be. The data accessed includes "names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers".
Education will shift away from classrooms in the future
Classrooms could be a thing of the past by 2025, according to new research by Polycom. Its Education in 2025 -- Technology Innovation survey takes a closer look at education and technology and has some interesting takeaways. While almost two thirds (64 percent) of respondents believe students engage with content primarily in the classroom, just a quarter (25 percent) believe that will still be the case in ten years' time.
More than half (53 percent) of education professionals believe real-time video collaboration and mobile devices will be the number one way students will engage with content in 2025. At the moment, however, things should be much, much better than they are.
The Dark Web isn't really as safe as criminals think
You aren't really safe on the Dark Web. That runs counter-intuitive to the reason for its existence. Then again, it isn't really the kind of place you want to go anyway. It's a series of sites that exist on darknets, an overlay network designed to keep things hidden and with good reason -- it's usually used for criminal activity.
But if you know how to get there then you can make some money -- selling drugs, weapons, malware and anything else that can cause harm.
SolidRun x86 Braswell MicroSoM runs Linux and full Windows 10, destroys Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is popular for three major reasons -- it is small, inexpensive, and doesn't consume a lot of electricity. This makes the board very popular for things like education, servers, IoT projects, and media playback. Unfortunately, as many consumers find out quickly, the Raspberry Pi computers are woefully underpowered for some needs. In other words, despite the low cost, it isn't necessarily a bargain.
Today, SolidRun announces an Intel Braswell-based MicroSoM. Unlike the ARM-powered Raspberry Pi, this is x86 compatible, meaning it can run full Windows 10. Plus, if you install a Linux distro, there will be far more packages available, such as Google Chrome, which is not available for Pi. Heck, it can probably serve as a respectable desktop. Even though it costs more than the Raspberry Pi, is it a better deal?
Security commentator Brian Krebs hit with the biggest DDoS attack ever
Attacks on websites are a daily occurrence so to get any real attention an attack needs to be something special. Starting on Tuesday, Brian Krebs' security blog, KrebsOnSecurity.com, was hit with what is being described as "the largest DDoS the internet has ever seen".
Despite being clobbered with a colossal 665 Gbps of traffic, Krebs' site remained online thanks to the anti-DDoS efforts of security firm Akamai. It is thought that Krebs was targeted for his exposés of hackers, and the attack was delivered via a huge number of hacked IoT devices.
More than half of IT pros don't erase data properly
A new study reveals that 53 percent of IT professionals use common, but ineffective, methods to erase data on corporate computers, external drives and servers.
The survey by Blancco Technology Group of over 400 professionals worldwide found that 31 percent report dragging individual files to the Recycle Bin and 22 percent reformat the entire drive.
Marketers lose $100 million to mobile app advertising fraud
App marketers will lose up to $100 million in 2016 due to mobile app install and engagement advertising fraud according to a new study.
The research from mobile analytics company AppsFlyer shows that the losses come from fraudulent click data, paid installs from fraudulent devices, and fraudulent and simulated in-app events.
Many reports of exploding Samsung Galaxy Note7 units are false
We have heard lots of stories about exploding Galaxy Note7 devices, but how many of them are actually true? In another episode of the Galaxy Note7 recall saga, Samsung has revealed that it has received multiple false reports from consumers claiming that their new smartphone caught fire, suggesting that, perhaps, there are fewer destroyed units in the wild than we have been lead to believe.
Samsung says that it has dealt with 26 such reports from alleged Galaxy Note7 owners, and that in 12 cases it has been unable to find an issue with those devices. What about the rest of the claims?
Hands-on with Allo, Google's sort-of smart messaging app
Does the world need another messaging app? We’re not sure, but Google is giving us another one anyway, launching Google Allo for Android and iOS.
Key features include "Smart Reply", which analyses incoming messages and suggests appropriate responses you can send with a tap.
Microsoft raises dividend, launches $40 billion share buyback program
Microsoft has authorized a share buyback program that will see the company reacquiring $40 billion of its own shares, just over nine percent of the company.
This is the fourth $40 billion buyback program launched by the company, which said that it will complete the first round by the end of this year. Microsoft's most recent buyback was first announced in 2013 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016.
Enterprises are learning from cyber attacks but bad habits persist
A majority of enterprises (79 percent) say they have taken action to improve their security in response to major cyber attacks. However, 40 percent of organizations still store privileged and admin passwords in a Word document or spreadsheet, while 28 percent use a shared server or USB stick.
This is among the findings of the 10th annual Global Advanced Threat Landscape Survey from cyber security company CyberArk which looks at whether organizations are learning lessons from cyber attacks.
Consumer rights group strongly criticizes Microsoft over Windows 10
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has already ripped into Microsoft and Windows 10 for "blatantly disregarding user choice and privacy", and now consumer group Which? says Microsoft "must act over Windows 10 woes" and "do better".
Which? says it has received well over 1,000 complaints about Windows 10, with PC users claiming the new OS has brought them nothing but problems.
Homes are getting smarter, but not more secure
Smart homes aren’t something that’s going to happen in "the near future" -- smart homes are happening today. They’re no longer reserved for the early adopters or geeks, too. In some places, they’ve reached the "tipping point" -- they’re basically mainstream now.
This is according to a new and fairly extensive research by the non-profit prpl Foundation. In its study, The prpl Foundation Smart Home Security Report, it surveyed 1,200 people in the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, and concluded that people should be more careful with their home routers.
Number of data breaches rises by 15 percent
The number of breaches and their severity are both growing, a new report by digital security company Gemalto is saying. Titled Breach Level Index, it says there has been 15 percent more data breaches in the first half of 2016, compared to the last six months of 2015.
A total of 974 data breaches were reported worldwide, amassing 554 million compromised data records, in the first half of 2016. It is also interesting that in more than half of cases (52 percent), the number of compromised records were not disclosed at the time of reporting. Looking specifically at the UK, there have been 61 breaches, most of which happened at the government sector (14). Finance and healthcare sectors were close second and third.
Bitdefender 2017 brings anti-ransomware, Wi-Fi vulnerability checker
Bitdefender has unveiled its 2017 consumer security range, including Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2017 ($39.99-), Bitdefender Internet Security 2017 ($59.99-) and Bitdefender Total Security Multi-Device 2017 ($89.99-).
New features include the Wi-Fi Security Scanner, a one-click tool which lists local wireless networks and quickly highlights any vulnerabilities.
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