Why cyber insurance policies may be in jeopardy [Q&A]
Cyber insurance has often been seen by business leaders as a monetary guarantee that even if hackers do break into their networks and steal their data, they can still escape financially unscathed.
Yet this premise was recently rocked after Lloyd's of London, the world's biggest insurance syndicate, redefined its policies to no longer cover for nation-state cyberattacks. There are other challenges facing the cyber insurance sector in the year ahead too.
[UPDATED] Content Adaptive Brightness Control will make Windows 11 more energy-efficient
Adaptive screen brightness is a familiar function of smartphones, with both iOS and Android boosting brightness in lighter conditions to improve screen visibility, and dimming it when it is darker so you're not blinded during nocturnal social media sessions. Now Microsoft is bringing a similar -- but better -- feature to Windows 11.
Microsoft's take on the feature is called Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC). There is a clue in the name about how it works, and it is about more than just ambient lighting conditions. [UPDATE: Microsoft has had something of a change of heart, as detailed here.]
Microsoft brings green screen feature to Teams meetings
Users of Microsoft Teams have a new option to experiment with that can make meetings both more interesting and more private -- green screen.
The ability to change backgrounds in video chats is something that has been available in numerous apps for quite some time, but the results are patchy at best. With the arrival of support for cinema-style green screen though, Microsoft is upping the ante.
TEAMGROUP unveils MP33Q M.2 PCIe SSD and T-FORCE VULCAN Z QLC SATA SSD
TEAMGROUP has launched two new QLC SSDs: the MP33Q M.2 PCIe SSD and the T-FORCE VULCAN Z QLC SSD. The MP33Q is a high-performance NVMe SSD with up to 2,500MB/s read speeds, while the VULCAN Z is a 2.5-inch SATA SSD with up to 550MB/s read speeds.
The TEAMGROUP MP33Q M.2 PCIe SSD is designed with 3D QLC flash memory chips, PCIe Gen3x4 interface and NVMe 1.3 protocol. With up to 2,500MB/s in read speed and 2,100MB/s in write speed, it outperforms SATA III SSDs by five times and is available in capacities of up to 2TB.
Purple Team engagements uncover security weaknesses
Our threat researchers at Lares encounter a broad range of security flaws and vulnerabilities when we conduct Purple Team exercises on behalf of our clients. Over time, the same unforced errors seem to come up so often that we warn security teams to develop standardized practices to defend against them.
The Lares Adversarial Collaboration Unit assists clients with defensive collaboration engagements and Purple Team assessments, which combine offensive and defensive techniques to strengthen security protections. Red Teams emulate external or insider attackers, while Blue Teams serve as internal security defenders. Purple Teams assist both sides by aligning the defensive tactics of the Blue Team with the threats attempted by the Red Team.
Google launches Nearby Share for Windows in beta to simplify sharing files between Android and PC
As any owner of an Android device will tell you, while there is a lot to love about Google’s mobile operating system, there remains a lot of room for improvement. A good example is the sharing of files between a smartphone running Android and a PC running Windows -- something that has proved bewilderingly and unnecessarily cumbersome in the past.
To make file sharing easier, Google has launched a beta version of Nearby Sharing for Windows, expanding the availability of what was previously a mobile-only app.
Kick Microsoft Windows 11 out of your life and switch to Linux Lite 6.4 today!
Linux Lite is a popular Linux distribution that is designed to be easy to use for people switching from Windows. The latest version, Linux Lite 6.4, includes a number of new features and improvements, making it a great choice for anyone looking for a reliable and user-friendly Linux distribution.
Linux Lite 6.4 is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS. The distro includes a number of bug fixes and security updates. The operating system is a smart choice for users who are new to Linux or who are looking for a more lightweight alternative to Windows or macOS.
Blender 3.5 unveils new GPU-based compositor backend and improved hair styling tools
The Blender Foundation has unveiled Blender 3.5.0, the latest 3.x point release of its popular and powerful open-source, cross-platform 3D creation suite. The new release boasts several new features, including GPU-powered viewport compositor and vector displacement sculpting.
Blender 3.5’s main highlight, however, is that it builds massively on the curves-based hair system it introduced in version 3.3 with the addition of 'hair assets', 26 pre-built textures users can simply drag and drop on to existing models.
Best Windows apps this week
Five-hundred-and-thirty-six in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.
Windows 11 users may soon install free apps or games directly from Windows Search results. The change landed in the latest Windows 11 Canary Insider build.
Backups are for life, not just World Backup Day
Backups have been an essential part of IT since the days of paper tape and punched cards, but nobody ever said they were exciting.
Of all the things that now have a day devoted to them, backups probably deserve one more than most for being the unsung savior of many an information professional's career. On today's World Backup Day we've asked some experts to tell us their views on backups and why they are still vital.
World Backup Day: IT and security teams need to work better together or we are going to fail
It's like in the movie "Groundhog Day". Every 31st March the music plays and on World Backup Day we are reminded of the promise: "I solemnly swear to back up my important documents and applications". A noble goal that every company and every user immediately agrees to.
But in the weeks surrounding World Backup Day, we hear from the media that companies have been hacked and their data hijacked by ransomware. The big promise to restore the data from the backup and thus be resistant to any attempt at blackmail is then broken again.
Microsoft is testing a new way for Windows 11 users to install free apps and games
New Insider builds of Windows 11 are usually about Microsoft testing out new features of the operating system, but sometimes the company tries something a little different. This is something that is true of the latest Canary release, build 25330, and Dev release, build 23424.
In both of these new releases, there are important changes to the Microsoft Store. The latest version of the app gives Insiders a new way to install free apps and games faster than ever.
Beyond the smoke and mirrors of zero trust security [Q&A]
Enterprises are faced with a barrage of new threats and entry points and as a result need to deploy, scale, enforce and maintain zero trust security policies to keep pace.
Access control needs to be at the core of any successful zero trust model but this too presents challenges. We spoke to Denny LeCompte, CEO of Portnox, to discover how organizations can overcome zero trust barriers.
Microsoft fixes Azure BingBang bug that allowed Bing search hijacking and leaked private data
Microsoft has addressed a serious flaw in Azure Active Directory which was dubbed BingBang by the security researchers that discovered it.
The vulnerability not only made it possible to manipulate Bing search results, but also to access private data from Outlook, Office 365 and Teams. The issue stemmed from an Azure misconfiguration; it dates back to January this year, but Microsoft has only just plugged the hole.
Microsoft releases experimental Windows 11 Build 25330 to the Canary Channel
As well as releasing a new Windows 11 build for Insiders in the Dev Channel, Microsoft today also introduces a new flight to its experimental Canary Channel.
Build 25330 won’t be offered to Insiders with Arm64 devices, and it comes with a selection of changes and improvements.
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