Santa Claus may be coming to town but bots are getting all the best Christmas presents
New research from Imperva shows that 71 percent of UK consumers believe bad bots are ruining Christmas by snapping up all the most wanted presents.
It finds that 40 percent of consumers surveyed say they have been thwarted when trying to buy a gift in the past, only to find that it was completely sold out.
How businesses can protect against online scams over the holiday season
The run up to the holiday period is a prime time for cyber attackers as they try to exploit the rise in online activity to launch phishing and spoofing attacks, distribute malware, and create fraudulent schemes.
Online retail brands are a prime target. Last year UK shoppers lost more than £11.5 million to online scammers between November and January. However, it’s important to remember that the risks also extend to other industry sectors, as employees may use work devices for last minute festive shopping and other end-of-year activity. Here we explore how scammers take advantage of this annual trend and how to protect against these threats.
Get $650 worth of software for FREE in this grand 2023 Christmas giveaway!
As the festive season swiftly approaches, the spirit of giving is in full swing. This year, Wonderfox has put together a grand 2023 Christmas giveaway campaign in collaboration with 12 well-known software companies.
In a bid to spread joy and cheer, the company is offering an opportunity to get your hands on 15 top-notch software products, absolutely free! The total value of these gifts surpasses a whopping $650, making this a deal you wouldn't want to miss.
Microsoft goes back to Windows XP for this holiday season's ugly sweater -- here's how you can get one
Every holiday season, Microsoft brings out an "ugly sweater" and this time it’s going way, way back with a special XP-themed Bliss design.
This sweater, which features the iconic Bliss backdrop from Windows XP, (originally a photo of a pretty blue sky and rolling green hills taken in Sonoma County, California) has been created in part to support The Nature Conservancy.
You should replace Windows 11 with Linux Mint 21.1 on grandma's PC this Christmas
Grandmothers can be great ladies, but let's be honest -- they aren't very good at using computers. It's not their fault though -- they didn't grow up with them. That's why every time you visit grandma for Christmas, she asks you to fix her computer.
If you are sick of removing malware from grandma's PC, there is a simple solution -- install Linux! Yes, by formatting grandma's hard drive and replacing Windows with Linux, she will have the best Christmas ever.
Give the gift of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 this Christmas with a YEYIAN ODACHI prebuilt gaming PC
Santa Claus is cool and all, but let's be honest, the gifts his elves make are kind of lame. Look, it is 2022, and no kid wants a wooden train, stuffed animal, or baby doll. Santa can keep that crap at the North Pole. Thee days, kids want electronics and hardcore gaming computers.
If you want to impress someone this Christmas, you should buy them a prebuilt gaming PC with a legit gaming card. Don't know which PC to buy? Don't worry -- there are three new "ODACHI" desktops from YEYIAN that are guarantied to "wow" the recipient. They are powered by either an Intel Core i9 13900KF or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and come with either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or 4090.
Threat modelling with Santa
If there is one person who, like no other, knows that there is a lot to protect to keep people happy, then it’s Santa and his factory filled with elves, toys and sugary goodness. Not only are there plenty of things to protect, but there are also a lot of things to consider that might play out in unexpected ways, and jeopardize Christmas.
This is why Santa not only knows what to protect, but he also knows the limitations of the resources he needs to be able to keep children happy and make sure the process of making and delivery toys and candy stays operational.
Phishing scams are coming to town
The Christmas holiday period is a peak time for phisherfolk. Research from Check Point shows 17 percent of all malicious files distributed by email in November were related to orders and shipping around the Black Friday period.
This is expected to be worse still this month as attackers seek to take advantage of shipping and package notifications and more.
Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday technology deals of 2022
The economy may be in the toilet right now, but just because inflation is at an all-time high, that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy gifts this year. In fact, with many financial experts predicting a painful 2023, we might as well take advantage of all the great 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, right?
This year, there are many impressive discounts on technology-related purchases such as computer peripherals, devices and electronics. Below, we are sharing some of the best deals. While many of the sales will not start until Friday, some are live already. We will be continually adding deals to this list, so keep checking back!
Top 5 holiday season fraud trends
With International Fraud Awareness Week and the holiday shopping season officially underway, analysts and retailers are diving into customers’ shopping habits. But it’s not just legitimate customers retailers need to be aware of, as fraudsters are just as keen on holiday shopping -- and they're already hitting online stores.
Here are some of the top trends I'm seeing as we enter the peak of the holiday shopping season.
Ubuntu-based Linux Mint 21.1 'Vera' will be released on Christmas
Linux Mint users are usually quite rabid when it comes to news about the operating system, and I am happy to say the distribution's developers have shared some interesting tidbits.
First and foremost, the upcoming Linux Mint 21.1 will be named "Vera." This is hardly surprising, as the Mint 21.x series will use female names that start with the letter V. Linux Mint 21 is named "Vanessa," for instance.
Jesus would likely be a Linux user, so install Manjaro 21.2 'Qonos' to celebrate Christmas
Christmas is just a few days away now, and I am definitely not in a great mood for the special holiday. Like many of you, I am depressed about this new Omicron variant of COVID-19 running rampant. Sadly, we all may have to lock ourselves down once again, staying in our homes while waving goodbye to visiting family and going to restaurants. This is not the Christmas I was envisioning just last week. Sigh.
Thankfully, there is a way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ without leaving the house -- installing a Linux distribution! Look, I can't prove it, but I'd like to think Jesus would be a fan of both Linux and open source software. If he returned to Earth tomorrow, I think he would be more likely to use the Arch-based Manjaro than Windows 11. And so, if you are forced to stay indoors this Christmas weekend, I highly recommend trying out the all-new Manjaro 21.2 operating system.
StarTech.com's new quintet of footlong USB-C video dongles are great stocking stuffers
If your laptop or tablet PC only has USB-C, you can buy a home docking station, such as this one from VisionTek, to expand the connectivity. But what if you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a dock, plus you really only need to add video output functionality? For instance, maybe you just need to add HDMI. In that case, a single-purpose dongle can save you some money. These dongles can be good for portability too, as they won't take up much room in a travel bag.
Today, StarTech.com launches five new USB-C video dongles, all of which feature long 12-inch cables. Why are five products necessary? Because each USB-C adapter offers a different connection type on the other end -- HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort, and DVI. In other words, no matter what type of television, monitor, or projector you have, StarTech.com has you covered.
It's beginning to look a lot like a cyberattack -- demands of the job hit CISOs' private lives
Two in five CISOs have missed holidays like Thanksgiving due to work demands and a quarter haven't taken time off work in the past 12 months.
A new report from Tessian based on a study of 300 CISOs also shows that they work, on average, 11 more hours than they're contracted to each week while one in 10 works 20 to 24 hours extra a week.
Microsoft releases new Windows 11 wallpaper for 'the holidays' but doesn't say which ones
Windows 11 is a great operating system, and if your computer is compatible, you should upgrade from Windows 10 immediately. It is an absolute joy to use, and I find it to be the prettiest version of Windows yet.
If you want to make it even prettier, today, Microsoft shares a beautiful new Windows 11 wallpaper from artist Kervin Brisseaux. The company says the background image "merges the updated design of Windows 11 with the magical, vibrant nature of the holidays." Oddly, Microsoft fails to disclose which holidays those actually are.
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