The most common way for malware to get onto a PC is via files downloaded from the web. According to Exploits at the Endpoint: SANS 2016 Threat Landscape Study, 41 percent of people suffered their worst security events from drive by downloads and 80 percent suffered phishing attacks.

Threat protection specialist CheckPoint is launching a new anti-malware and anti-phishing extension for web browsers to address this growth in web-based malware and social engineering attacks.

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Depending on their size and the sector they operate in, businesses need to respond to threats of different types and require intelligence to suit.

Endpoint protection specialist CrowdStrike is launching a tiered eCrime subscription that will allow customers to choose the option that best meets their needs to gain new capabilities and insights into the entire eCrime adversary ecosystem, and orchestrate detection and response options in a more effective manner.

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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced via a blog post that Uber China -- a subsidiary of the taxi-hailing app -- will merge with its biggest competitor in the region -- Didi Chuxing -- in a whopping $35 billion deal.

The blog post has recently been doing the rounds on Chinese social media, with the deal effectively signalling the end of a hard-fought market share battle in China in which both companies have invested huge amounts of money without really getting anywhere.

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As growing numbers of devices are connected to the internet, security and privacy concerns grow. Businesses are looking for solutions that provide protection for both the endpoint and the network.

Israel-based Allot Communications is announcing a new collaboration with Intel Security to introduce McAfee Unified Security Powered by Allot, providing complete end-to-end security capabilities.

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Tesla is buying SolarCity, a company selling solar power systems for homes and businesses. The electric car maker will shell out $2.6 billion (£1.97bn).

Tesla’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is the same person that is also chairman and the largest stakeowner of SolarCity. So basically, Musk is merging his two companies into one which will offer "end to end clean energy solutions". SolarCity was founded by Musk’s cousins, CEO Lyndon Rive and director Peter Rive.

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A new report from Kaspersky Lab on botnet-assisted DDoS attacks shows a steady growth in their numbers the second quarter of this year.

SYN DDoS, TCP DDoS and HTTP DDoS remained the most common attack scenarios, but the proportion of attacks using the SYN DDoS method increased 1.4 times compared to the previous quarter and accounted for 76 percent.

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Mozilla has unveiled Firefox 48 FINAL for desktop. After the relatively minor releases of late, Firefox 48 contains a number of notable new features, both visible and behind the scenes, to excite users.

There’s improved protection against potentially malicious downloads, the requirement for add-ons to be both verified and signed by Mozilla before they will load, and a number of WebRTC enhancements -- and that’s just for starters.

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Both the UK and the US are in serious need of cyber-security talent, as there are hundreds of thousands of job vacancies in this industry that won’t be filled any time soon.

This is according to a new report by Intel Security and CSIS, which polled businesses all over the world. There is a "talent crisis" in Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, US and UK.

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Here’s an interesting finding: the number of downtime incidents, which prevent staff to work from their usual offices or access business-critical systems, has seen only a tiny drop -- five percent, compared to 2014. But the nature of these incidents has changed -- dramatically.

According to Sungard AS’s new report, communication-related failures have "jumped by a third" and now account for 25 percent of all total invocations. Consequently, communication issues have, for the first time ever, been named as the top reason UK business invoke recovery services.

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If you hate emoji, I am sorry to tell you that they do not seem to be a fad. In other words, the little pictures are here to stay. Just accept it, y'all -- emoji are fun!

Today, Apple announces that over 100 emoji are being added to the upcoming iOS 10 operating system. The company is putting a lot of thought and care in these new characters, you see, as it is focusing on diversity in both families and gender, plus the latest epidemic of gun violence.

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The Apple Watch is seen by some as a misstep for Apple, but in reality, it outsells Android Wear smartwatches by a lot. Quite frankly, in my travels, I see far more of Apple's smartwatch than ones based on Google's operating system.

While the Apple Watch is very stylish, many of the bands can be very expensive. Luckily, there are many lower-priced third-party bands on sites like Amazon. Unfortunately, many of the aforementioned bands are of low quality, harming the premium Apple Watch experience. Today, X-Doria looks to change this. It releases a new stainless steel 'Mesh Band' that offers high quality for less than $50.

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The upcoming school year is quickly approaching, meaning many parents and students are busy shopping. While some kids still need old-school things like pens and paper, the really fun thing to buy is a new laptop.

Understandably, money is tight for many folks, meaning a quality computer might not be in the budget. Luckily, System76 is giving away one of its most popular Linux-based laptops -- the Lemur. The pre-installed Ubuntu operating system is absolutely brilliant for education, making it a sweet prize for the winner. If you are interested in entering, you can find out the details below.

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Google continues to take steps to improve the security of Android, and the latest addition starts to roll out today. Lengthily referred to as "Android notifications for newly added devices", the feature does exactly what you would expect it to do.

Whenever a new device is added to an account, a native Android notification will appear. This gives users the opportunity to review the device and determine whether it is something suspicious.

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When it comes to get working done, I leverage many operating systems -- Windows 10, Ubuntu, iOS, and believe it or not, even Chrome OS. Google's cloud-focused desktop OS is actually quite capable -- depending on needs, of course. Many things work wonderfully in a browser nowadays, such as word processing, spreadsheets, and photo editing.

Apparently, Charles Schwab has seen the light on Chromebooks too, as the financial company has chosen them for a specific need -- in-person account opening. In other words, the much-respected company did not choose Windows 10 for this project. Sorry, Microsoft!

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Automation tools for mobiles were something of a craze a little while ago, with the likes of IFTTT proving incredibly popular. Last month, Microsoft released its own automation tools, Flow, to iOS users, and now a beta version has been launched for Android.

Microsoft's take on automation is very much what you would expect -- it's all about connecting different cloud services and apps, and getting them to work together in a helpful way.

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