Latest Technology News

I still remember getting my first-ever solid state drive -- a SATA model with a small capacity by today's standards. It was mind-blowing to see how fast Windows could boot from it. Also great? No longer being forced to hear the sound of a mechanical hard drive seeking for data. All things considered, the transition from HDD to SSD was one of the most significant upgrades of my entire computing life. And you know what? I am sure many consumers would say the same.

With all of that said, solid state drives aren't just great inside computers -- they work wonderfully outside of them too. What do I mean by that? I am referring to portable storage. Thanks to NVMe drives, external storage devices can be faster and tinier than ever. Not to mention, with USB-C, you never have to worry about plugging in the connector the wrong way either. Today, Western Digital launches such a drive and it is absolutely gorgeous. Called "WD My Passport SSD," it features an internal NVMe drive, USB-C connectivity, and a beautiful metal exterior that oozes elegance.

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Acronis has launched a major new version of its flagship backup product with the release of Acronis TrueImage 2021. The new release has one major highlight: integrated protection against anti-malware.

There are also several minor improvements to the tool's backup engine, but the focus is very much on the new anti-malware protection, which is based on the company’s existing VB100-cerified antimalware solution, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.

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The Linux Foundation is today announcing the formation of the FinOps Foundation to promote the discipline of cloud financial management through best practices, education, and standards

With support from founding members Apptio, Cloudeasier, Cloudsoft, CloudWize, Contino, Kubecost, Neos, Opsani, ProsperOps, Timspirit and VMware, the foundation is set to increase awareness and offer education for professionals in the emerging discipline of FinOps.

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A new study from cybersecurity and data analytics firm, CybSafe shows that one in fours UK office workers are relying on unauthorized personal devices to work from home.

The study of 600 workers also shows that one in 10 share their work devices with others in their household, and that 65 percent of workers have not received any remote working security training in the last 6 months.

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Fans of computer maker and seller System76 will undoubtedly remember the Bonobo WS. This was a desktop-class laptop that provided insane power. Of course, calling it a "laptop" is only true in form factor -- it isn't likely that many will use the hulking beast on their laps. Instead, it is intended to make high performance portable -- and then be used on a desk or table.

Today, System76 brings the Bonobo WS Linux laptop back with very modern specifications. In fact, on the top-end, it can be configured with a 10th generation Intel Core i9 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super. All of this power is cooled by an impressive number of heat-pipes and dual-fans.It is absolutely loaded with useful I/O, including ports on the rear. For an operating system, you can choose between Ubuntu and System76's own Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS. Best of all, it comes with Coreboot plus System76's own Open Firmware and Embedded Controller Firmware.

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While COVID-19 has altered the cloud strategies of enterprise IT executives, the vast majority are still moving forward with their big-picture digital transformation initiatives, and most think they'll see an increase in their cloud budgets to support these projects over the next year.

A new report from professional services and managed cloud company 2nd Watch surveyed more than 100 cloud-focused IT directors or above and finds that 82 percent of respondents say they've experienced cloud-related challenges with 77 percent saying these challenges have caused them to alter their cloud strategies.

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Since organizations have shifted to a work from home model, the potential for cyberattacks and breaches has increased. In fact, since the start of the pandemic, 20 percent of respondents say they faced a security breach as a result of a remote worker.

New research from Malwarebytes shows that this in turn has led to higher costs, with 24 percent of respondents saying they paid unexpected expenses to address a cybersecurity breach or malware attack following shelter-in-place orders.

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More than half of UK businesses are turning to outsourced partners for cyber security services, according to research commissioned by digital risk protection company Skurio.

Lack of in-house expertise is a key issue for organizations, in particular when it comes to digital risk protection -- the ability to monitor risks, threats and breaches outside their network -- with 80 percent of respondents saying that their teams lack skills and knowledge in this area.

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Microsoft has released an out of band security update that addresses two separate Windows Remote Access Elevation of Privilege vulnerabilities.

KB4578013 fixes the CVE-2020-1530 and CVE-2020-1537 issues relating to Windows Remote Access' handling of memory and file operation respectively. Microsoft had already issued a patch for Windows 10 earlier this month, but the new patch is aimed at people running Windows 8.1, RT 8.1, and Server 2012 R2.

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Numerous Google services have been plagued with server issues causing problems for users around the world.

As well as being unable to send emails in Gmail, people are complaining that they are unable to upload files to Google Docs. Other services affected by the outage include Google Meet, Google Voice, and Google Keep.

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Electricity is something we all take for granted -- you flip a switch and you instantly have light. It is like magic, if you think about it. When there is a blackout, however, we all quickly realize how dependent we are on electricity. Just recently, in the Northeastern USA, Tropical Storm Isaias wreaked major havoc. Here on Long Island (where I live) many folks were left without power for days. Not only did many families lose all of their refrigerated and frozen groceries, but they couldn't charge their smartphones either.

This is why it is essential that everyone own at least one USB power bank for emergencies -- during a blackout, you will be glad when you can charge your phone. ADATA recently launched two new USB battery packs with digital displays that should fit the bill. Called "P20000QCD" and "P10000QCD," the former offers a 20,000mAh battery, while the latter has 10,000mAh. They both have two USB-A ports, but P20000QCD also has two USB Type-C ports. The P10000QCD only has a single USB-C.

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Kaspersky’s rollout of its 2021 product line has reached European shores with the release of Kaspersky Internet Security 2021, Kaspersky Total Security 2021, and Kaspersky Security Cloud 2021 Free. The latter is a brand-new entry package into the company’s new cloud-based security product line.

There are several new features of note including major improvements to its 'stalkerware' detection tool in Internet Security and Total Security as well as access to the free version of Kaspersky Password Manager in lower-end packages. Security Cloud users also gain automatic checks of potentially compromised online accounts, while the recently introduced Kaspersky VPN component gains a major UI overhaul and more efficient connection process.

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Microsoft wrapped its annual Microsoft Inspire 2020 partner conference in July. This is one of the first events of the "big tech" conference season and a good precursor to what trends we can expect to see in 2021. For the first time ever, the global event was 100 percent virtual and available to all attendees at no cost. While Microsoft offered less "net-new" vision at this year’s conference, it strongly reinforced the company’s existing reputation as the dominant technology platform for enabling business results for technology intensive companies globally.

Microsoft spends millions on market research and R&D and based on past events we have found that there is a lot to learn at these events that can add value to technology strategies and plans. Here are four key takeaways from Microsoft Inspire 2020 that capture what Microsoft is up to, the direction the company is taking and often a good indicator of the market over the next 12 months.

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"May you live in interesting times!" This is one of the expressions that has received a lot of airtime in recent months. Clearly as a society we weren’t prepared for a pandemic and all the collateral impact that has resulted. But spare a thought for the IT and security teams that have recently dealt with perhaps the "most interesting" times. Everything they knew and trusted about their environment changed overnight. Think: remote workers, new insider threats and challenges associated with shadow IT.

To be fair, shadow IT was already a problem before the pandemic; our research shows the typical organization is aware of less than 50 percent of the digital assets that exist in their environment. However, in their race to ensure access to data and systems needed while sheltering in place, many end-users (inadvertently perhaps?) added significantly to the shadow IT problem. All of this is occurring as attacks have escalated with adversaries trying to take advantage of the chaos. So, what’s a security team to do about it?

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When Microsoft updated Windows Subsystem for Linux to version 2, there was a lot for developers to take advantage of.

Among those making good use of the fact that a genuine Linux kernel is now virtualized in WLS 2 is the team behind Kali Linux. They have created a new package called Win-KeX that gives the distro a graphic desktop environment, and it comes alongside the release of Kali Linux 2020.3.

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