Lessons learned from 633 destructive ransomware events
The threat landscape continues to see rapid evolution, especially as the digital world grows increasingly connected and more organizations outsource business services. Adversaries are getting smarter, and their techniques are getting more advanced by the day. This has put a spotlight on the security of our global supply chain and how unstable and unprotected it is.
In fact, software supply chain attacks have tripled in 2021. The potential ripple effects of risks and disruptions within an organization’s supply chain that could ultimately impact their business are immense. Research shows that a data breach affecting multiple parties causes 26X the financial damage of the worst single-party breach.
DuckDuckGo says it hasn't removed pirate sites from its index
On Friday, we reported how it appeared that privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo had begun following in Google’s footsteps and removing copyright infringing links from its search results. As noted by TorrentFreak, sites affected included The Pirate Bay, 1337x.to, and popular YouTube downloader youtube-dl.
However, DuckDuckGo says the firm hasn’t removed the sites from its index, and goes on to explain the reason for the issue.
Microsoft is preparing to hit Xbox users with in-game ads: report
Over the years, Microsoft has found a variety of ways to bombard its customers with ads. As well as using Windows 11 to promote its own Edge web browser, the company has also used the Start menu to "recommend" apps to people.
And now it seems as though Xbox gamers are next. A new report says that Microsoft is working on a program that will display third-party ads in Xbox games. So, what is going on, and is it as bad as it sounds?
Pay up or play different? Five tips for beating ransomware with backups
When it comes to ransomware, sometimes the cost of downtime can exceed the cost of paying up. Companies with frozen data and systems face loss of revenue, productivity, customer departures, damaged reputations, never mind the cost of the ransom itself. Take an organization like Colonial Pipeline, which should have had healthy backups in place to quickly recover from their attack and most likely did. However, they opted to shell out $4.4 million in ransom because they didn’t know how long it would take to get up and running again.
And according to ITIC's 2021 Hourly Cost of Downtime survey, one hour of a server being inoperable costs $300,000 or more for 91 percent percent of mid-sized and large enterprises.
Fighting cybercrime: What's next for Microsoft 365
It has been over a decade since we were first introduced to the Microsoft 365 brand -- and now it is one of the most used lines of subscription services in the world. Last year marked the 10th anniversary, and if we take a look back since its early days, the service has only expanded its scope and capabilities especially when it comes to the Security & Compliance Center.
The swift ascension of Microsoft 365 hardly comes as no surprise, given the hybrid world we now find ourselves in. However, as the number of M365 users continues to increase at a rapid pace, the security risks for both users and admins will only grow as well. To break it down, between January and December 2021 alone, Microsoft Azure Active Directory blocked more than 25.6 billion malicious attempts to hijack enterprise customer accounts by brute-forcing stolen passwords.
Microsoft brings new power user options to the Windows 11 Task Manager
A few days ago, Microsoft released a new build of Windows 11; while this was primarily a problem-fixing release, there were a handful of new additions and changes.
For many people, having issues addressed is the most important feature of any update to Windows 11, but new tools, toys and options are always welcome. With the release of Windows 11 build 22598, Microsoft has some treats for users of Task Manager -- power users in particular.
DuckDuckGo quietly begins removing pirate sites from its search results [Updated]
For years now, Google has been down-ranking -- or even removing entirely -- pirate sites from its search results. Privacy-focused search alternative DuckDuckGo has resisted taking similar action, making it a good choice for anyone seeking out such services.
Back in 2018, in a bid to avoid potential copyright liability, it did remove access to around 2,000 'bangs' -- shortcuts that let you run a search directly on a particular website -- for copyright infringing sites like The Pirate Bay and 1337x, but this didn’t affect the results in the search engine itself. It seems that has now changed.
Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 now available for purchase
If you need to buy a new Chrome OS laptop, I have some exciting news. Starting today, you can trade your money for the all-new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 360. This convertible notebook can transform into a makeshift tablet, and with Android app support, that will be very much appreciated.
While the Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 is powered by a rather anemic Intel Celeron N4500 processor, you can opt for a respectable 8GB of RAM rather than the 4GB of memory that comes with the base model. Sadly, regardless of which storage capacity you choose -- 64GB or 128GB -- you only get a sluggish eMMC drive. Thankfully, you do get USB-A, USB-C, 3.5mm audio, and a micro SD card reader. You can configure with option LTE wireless connectivity too.
Get 'Account-Based Marketing' ($20 value) FREE for a limited time
Business-to-business (B2B) companies spend $40 Billion on marketing each year, and they embrace tech-driven innovations, yet the traditional model for lead generation has not changed for decades. Why?
In addition to the techniques being outdated, they create friction and distrust between marketing and sales teams. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has quickly gained traction with leading B2B companies because it aligns sales and marketing teams around the accounts that will have the most business impact. Instead of chasing a large volume of lower-quality, generic leads, ABM helps sales and marketing professionals coordinate their efforts against a specific set of target accounts.
Best Windows apps this week
Four-hundred-eighty-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 10 version 20H2 support is running out next month. Devices may be upgraded to a newer version of Windows 10, e.g., Windows 10 version 21H2, or to Windows 11, provided that they meet the system requirements.
Behavioral analytics and why it's important to threat detection and response [Q&A]
Traditional rule-based security techniques centered on malware signatures and perimeter protection are increasingly unable to cope with the latest, more sophisticated threats.
Taking a more behavior-based approach to spotting unusual or risky activity offers a solution, but what is required to make it work? We spoke to Sanjay Raja, VP of product marketing and solutions at cybersecurity specialist Gurucul, to find out.
Microsoft releases KB5012643 update for Windows 11 with loads of fixes and improvements
Patch Tuesday may have come and gone, but this does not mean that Microsoft has finished pushing out updates for Windows. The latest to be released is the KB5012643 update for Windows 11 and it is jam-packed with fixes for various issues.
Among the numerous improvements are a fix for an issue that caused extremely slow startup times, as well as addressing a memory leak. The update also improves the Secure Boot and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) components.
Breaking away from tech giants: Why businesses should consider Filecoin storage
When it comes to storing data, businesses can often feel inundated with options from a whole host of different providers all promising to offer competitive rates and the security of your businesses’ assets. Add blockchain solutions into the mix as well, and decision-makers have a lot to be weighing up when choosing the best solution for their business.
With cloud-based technologies and blockchain in particular, jargon can be a problem when it comes to fully understanding the principles and mechanics at play. For this reason, many business leaders may dismiss these technologies, without considering the benefits they could offer. So, what exactly is Filecoin?
How systems integrators scale IOT to enable global deployments for customers
Today, the promise of IoT is in little doubt. Use cases range from connected products to connected assets and we are seeing IoT deployed across a multitude of industries from telehealth and electric vehicle (EV) connectivity to smart vending, payment systems and more. Accelerated in part by the pandemic and remote working, IoT deployments are now becoming mainstream.
That said, deploying one IoT device or a prototype and ensuring it is functional, versus deploying at scale across multiple sites and geographies is when IoT starts to become more challenging.
Elon Musk goes shopping for Twitter
Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter at a price of $54.20 per share, valuing the company at around $43 billion.
This comes a week after the SpaceX and Tesla billionaire became the company's largest shareholder and declined the chance to join its board -- which would have prevented a takeover by putting a cap on his shareholding.
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