NSA exploits leaked by hackers tweaked to work on all versions of Windows since 2000
A trio of NSA exploits leaked by hacking group TheShadowBrokers has been ported to work on all versions of Windows since Windows 2000.
The EternalChampion, EternalRomance and EternalSynergy exploits were made public by the group last year, and now a security researcher has tweaked the source code so they will run on nearly two decades' worth of Microsoft operating systems -- both 32- and 64-bit variants.
Cyber criminals in 'gold rush' to exploit cryptocurrencies
A new report from risk management and threat intelligence company Digital Shadows shows that cyber criminals are looking to exploit the boom in interest and adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The study highlights the most common methods used by these criminal actors, which include crypto jacking, account takeovers, mining fraud and scams against initial coin offerings (ICOs).
iPhone X sales reportedly below expectations
Smartphone buyers are not all that impressed with the iPhone X. According to a new report released by Nikkei, Apple saw "slower-than-expected" sales in major markets like US, Europe and China during the holiday season.
Nikkei claims that, as a result, Apple has decided to halve the production target for its flagship smartphone in the first quarter of 2018 from 40 million units to 20 million units.
State-sponsored attacks expected to dominate 2018 threat landscape
With 1.9 billion records stolen in the first six months, more than in the whole of 2016, 2017 proved a bumper year for cyber crime.
According to cyber security company Venafi, this trend is set to continue into 2018, with state-sponsored attacks to the fore.
Prediction #3 -- 2018 foreign profit repatriation is a $591.8 BILLION taxpayer ripoff
When I started this series of 2018 predictions I said the recently passed U.S. tax law was going to have a profound impact on upcoming events. Having had a chance to look closer at the issue I am even more convinced that this seismic financial event is, as I wrote above, a $591.8 billion taxpayer ripoff. This is not to say there aren’t some possible public benefits from the repatriation, but it’s fairly clear that the public loses more than it will ever gain.
In case you don’t follow these things, multinational U.S. companies have, since 2005, squirreled away about $2.5 TRILLION in profits overseas because U.S. tax law allowed those profits to go untaxed until they are returned to the USA. Understand that this $2.5 trillion is more than just the profit made on overseas business: many companies changed their ways of doing business to divert what would have been U.S. domestic profits, sending them overseas for parking to await a business-friendly U.S. Administration that would cut them a sweetheart deal to bring back all that moolah. The amount of U.S. corporate income tax that went unpaid during this 12 year period was 35 percent of $2.5 trillion or about $875 BILLION. That’s taxes of $73 billion annually for 12 years that went unpaid -- about five percent of the federal budget for those 12 years.
Windows 8.1 enters extended support: What can you expect?
Microsoft has ended mainstream support for Windows 8.1, more than five years after its debut. The operating system, which was offered as a free upgrade to Windows 8 users, has moved to the extended support phase, in which it will continue to receive updates, albeit in a more limited fashion.
During mainstream support, which ended January 9, Microsoft provided security and non-security updates and accepted requests for product changes. Extended support means that the average Windows 8.1 user will only receive security updates.
Xposed Framework beta adds support for Android Oreo
A new beta of the Android tweaking tool Xposed Framework has been released. The big news is that the release brings support for Oreo, something of a surprise considering how recently Google pushed the latest version of its mobile operating system out of the door.
The latest Xposed Framework release comes mere months after Nougat support was added. While the Oreo-supporting release will be welcomed by mobile tweakers, the developer says it should be treated as a beta, and may be buggy.
Dell releases Ubuntu Linux-based XPS 13 Developer Edition (9370) laptop
If you want a computer pre-loaded with a Linux-based operating system, you can never go wrong with System76. After all, that company focuses entirely on Linux -- it does not sell Windows machines at all. Hell, System76 even maintains its own Ubuntu-based operating system called Pop!_OS. By supporting that company, you are also supporting the overall Linux community.
System76 is not the only company selling Linux-powered computers, however. Despite being a major Microsoft partner with Windows, Dell also sells desktops and laptops pre-loaded with Ubuntu. One of the company's most impressive computers is the svelte XPS 13 laptop. Dell sells a version with Ubuntu that it dubs "Developer Edition," but non-developers can, of course, use it too. Today, the company announces the the 7th-generation version of this notebook. The 9370, as it is called, can be purchased immediately.
Twitter kills anti-Nazi bot Imposter Buster that tried to expose racists
A Twitter account designed to alert users about racist accounts has been shut down by Twitter. Imposter Buster was a bot created by journalist Yair Rosenberg in an attempt to expose racism on the platform.
But while many people welcomed the activities of Imposter Buster -- which would automatically join in the conversations of high-profile racist users in an attempt to expose their trolling of ethnic minority users -- Twitter saw things differently and slapped the bot with a permanent ban.
Revolutionize your writing with the latest PhraseExpress 13
Sometimes we think email is taking over our lives. If you’re anything like ourselves, we find our day is spent answering support emails, often writing the same replies to different people.
Ideally, we’d deploy tools to write these replies for us. The next best option is a phrase automation tool, such as PhraseExpress 13, which has just received a huge update.
UK and EU to expand Bitcoin regulation to combat money laundering and tax evasion
Following concerns that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are being used for not only tax evasion but also money laundering, governments in the UK and across Europe are planning to introduce new regulatory measures.
One of the key proposals will bring to an end the anonymity Bitcoin users have enjoyed thus far. In an attempt to bring the digital currency with real-world currencies, the UK Treasury wants to force all traders to reveal their identities.
Apple expeditiously patches embarrassing macOS High Sierra security bug, thereby regaining my trust
I am not a rich man. With that said, when I bought my first-ever Mac computer last year -- a 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar -- parting with that much cash was a very big deal for me. I spent more on this laptop than my first car! Why did I buy it? After being impressed by iOS and liking the way the two operating systems worked together, I decided to use Mac OS X (now macOS) in addition to my favorite Linux distributions. To be honest, I feel more safe on Apple's desktop operating system than on Windows 10. I also like how Tim Cook and company stand up for privacy. In other words, I trusted Apple.
And then yesterday happened. It was revealed that macOS High Sierra had one of the worst security bugs ever. By entering "root" as the username, followed by a blank password, anybody could access any Mac running macOS 10.13.1. As soon as I read about this embarrassing vulnerability, my heart sank. I gave Apple thousands of my hard earned dollars because I valued security and privacy, and I was rewarded with incompetence. Well, I am happy to say that my head is much cooler today, and Apple has regained my trust. Why? Because the company has already patched the bug.
Kodi boxes: UK government explains why you MUST stop using them now
Kodi boxes, and other so-called illicit streaming devices (ISDs), are the big-target for anti-piracy organizations at the moment. It’s a war being fought on many fronts. While bulling third-party add-on developers into retiring using legal threats is one of the most high-profile approaches, it’s far from the only tactic being used.
Governments and anti-piracy organizations are also using heavy doses of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to persuade Kodi lovers to seek other -- legal -- methods for streaming content.
Your Kodi box could kill you, experts warn
Kodi, and "fully loaded" Kodi boxes in particular, are frequently in the news. Mainstream media likes to spread a lot of FUD about the hugely popular streaming software.
If you’re a Kodi user streaming content via third-party add-ons, you know there’s a danger that those add-ons might stop working, or disappear altogether due to legal action, and there’s always the (very distant) threat that rights holders might start targeting end users. Now there’s another concern to keep you up at night -- your Kodi box might kill you.
Experimentation platform aims to streamline software delivery
Development teams have turned to continuous delivery to help them adapt software features whilst rolling them out to customers. At the same time project management teams have used feedback mechanisms to get information on how well the software is working.
The problem is that in many businesses these two operations are separate, which leads to delays and duplication of efforts.
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