Every once in a while a major software company takes us by surprise by releasing an operating system of its own. Kaspersky has done just that with its new KasperskyOS, which is designed for control systems, Internet of Things devices, and network devices. The most intriguing thing about the 14-year project? It has no Linux underpinnings.

If you want to create your own operating system, basing it on Linux is an obvious choice. The open-source kernel is tried and true, after all, and best of all it's free, so if you want a solid foundation it is a great option. But, "for different applications and purposes," Kaspersky went a different route.

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As we move into the tax return season a new study reveals that attitudes to identity theft and a pattern of poor practices are leaving much of the public vulnerable.

Data security and ID theft protection company CyberScout has carried out its second annual Tax Season Risk Report and finds 58 percent of Americans are not worried about tax fraud in spite of federal reports of 787,000 confirmed identity theft returns in 2016, totaling more than $4 billion in potential fraud.

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Websites that implement HTTPS reap a lot of benefits. Not only do they protect their users by preventing third parties from snooping on web traffic, and safeguard against content hijacking and cookie stealing, but they also enjoy a better ranking in Google as the search giant uses HTTPS as a signal in its search algorithms.

Few privacy-minded people would be happy about logging in, or entering credit card details, on a site which doesn’t afford the proper protection that HTTPS brings.

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Patch Tuesday occurs on the second Tuesday of every month, and is when Microsoft releases security patches for all supported versions of Windows.

However, due to a "last minute issue," Microsoft was unable to push out the patches for February, and made the decision to delay them until next month, a move that understandably didn’t go down all that well with customers, and even led to Google publishing details of an unpatched Windows bug.

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Businesses all over the globe are faced with a tough challenge: to make their "smart offices" as secure and safe as possible. This is according to a new report by Samsung, which says that by 2021, there will be 7.3 billion connected IoT devices.

Each device also represents a security challenge, so it will be "critical" to secure each and every one. Samsung says businesses have up to three years to secure themselves, otherwise they’re risking being left behind as the market moves forward.

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Faced with increased requirements to digitize their records, healthcare organizations around the world are boosting their cyber security budgets according to a new report.

The study from Thales e-Security finds 81 percent of US healthcare organizations and 76 percent of those globally will increase information security spending in 2017.

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Yahoo's frankly terrible track record with security just cost the company $350 million. Having originally offered to buy the company for $4.83 billion, Verizon has now revealed that it is dropping its offer to $4.48 billion.

The announcement from Verizon comes just days after it was rumored that the company was thinking of lowering its offer by $250 million in the wake of security breaches suffered by Yahoo. The two companies have also agreed to share "certain legal and regulatory liabilities arising from certain data breaches."

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There's increasing demand from companies to build apps that integrate with their existing enterprise systems.

Specialist in consumer-like micro apps Sapho is announcing new integration with the IBM Domino social business platform, that will simplify developer access to information and workflows used by employees.

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Messaging apps are not just about chatting these days. Every player that counts wants to bring something extra to the table to keep users hooked and attract new ones in the process. WhatsApp is no different, as it is now rolling out an updated status feature that lets users share more than just basic messages.

"We are excited to announce that, coinciding with WhatsApp's eight birthday on February 24, we are reinventing the status feature", says WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. The update gives users the option to also share photos and videos.

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Cyber security is an increasingly essential skill set, but it can be hard for businesses to verify that they're employing people with the right abilities.

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is launching a new, vendor-neutral certification. CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CSA+) is the first of its kind to bring behavioral analytics to the forefront of assessing cyber threats.

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Users of Google and Bing will find it more difficult to track down illegal content via the search engines after Google and Microsoft signed up to a voluntary code of practice. The deal means that pirate search results will be demoted in results in the UK, making it less likely that searchers will click on them.

The two technology companies have been in talks with the entertainment industry to find a way to stem the flow of illegal content that's available online. As well as protecting the rights of copyright holders, it is hoped that the new arrangement will help to protect users, as websites that deal in pirated material often pose a security risk.

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Google's Project Zero has proved controversial on several occasions already, with the search giant publicly revealing details of software bugs when companies fail to fix them. Now the project has unearthed a bug in Windows, and as Microsoft failed to patch it within 90 days of being notified, details of the flaw have been made available for everyone to see -- and exploit.

A problem with the Windows Graphics Component GDI library (gdi32.dll) means that a hacker could use EMF metafiles to access memory and wreak all sorts of havoc. While Microsoft has issued Security Bulletin MS16-074, Google's Mateusz Jurczyk says it failed to properly address the problem -- hence the public outing of the bug.

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New data released today shows that Americans are increasingly concerned about their online privacy and security, including apprehension about increased government surveillance in the new presidential administration.

The survey by secure access specialist AnchorFree of over 1,000 users of the company's Hotspot Shield personal VPN application reveals 84 percent say they are more concerned about their online privacy and security today than they were a year ago.

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According to a new report from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, the volume of ransomware being encountered is reducing.

Data from Windows Defender Antivirus shows that after peaking in August, when 385,000 encounters were registered, ransomware encounters dropped almost 50 percent in September, and have continued to decline. But this doesn't mean we’re seeing the end of the menace.

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Yahoo -- or, rather, its users -- have not been doing very well recently when it comes to security. Having already revealed details of a huge historic attack that led to the theft of details for millions of accounts, Yahoo is now notifying an unknown number of users that their accounts may have been breached by hackers using forged cookies.

At the same time, Bloomberg is suggesting that the impending deal with Verizon has been renegotiated. The latest revelations coupled with the previous security issues could have just cost Yahoo $250 million.

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