A huge DDoS attack took the BBC's websites offline on Thursday, as well as the broadcaster's iPlayer streaming service. The disruption lasted for several hours, and now a US-based group of 'cyber hackers' that usually targets ISIS has claimed responsibility.

The New World Hacking group is a self-proclaimed hacktivist group that supports Anonymous. It says that despite effectively knocking the BBC from the face of the web, it was only meant to be a test of server power rather than a targeted attack on the corporation.

Yesterday we reported that Microsoft will warn users of 'state-sponsored' attacks on their accounts. Sounds great, but does it actually mean anything? Is it a useful service by the tech giant, or just PR bluster?

Considering the covert nature of spying and digital attacks, coupled with legislation around the world, it seems likely that the announcement is little more than meaningless hot air. In the UK, for instance, the planned snooper's charter would make it illegal for companies to alert users to hacking and surveillance by British agencies.

Even though US president Barack Obama promised to end the eavesdropping on highly-positioned officials among US allies, which was revealed during the Edward Snowden events, it seems that some officials are still under close watch by the NSA.

Among those is the prime minister of one of US' biggest allies -- Israel. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the White House decided to keep certain high-ranking officials under close watch, including Netanyahu and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey.

There’s nothing quite like kicking a dead corpse, and that’s basically what Adobe is doing with its once powerful product Flash.

Adobe has issued a security update for Flash, one which, according to it, addresses "critical vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system".

2015 has played host to some significant cyber breaches. Experian, TalkTalk and Ashley Madison all fell foul of malicious attacks, and they weren’t the only ones. In 2016, businesses need to resolve to do better -- but the question is, how?

What bad security habits need to be given up to ensure a safer, more secure experience next year? What lengths could, and indeed should have businesses gone to this year in order to prevent some of the data breaches that occurred?

The UK government has been heavily criticized for the way it is attempting to control the way in which people use the internet -- blocking porn, unfettered surveillance and so on. The snooper's carter in particular has been the subject of much disapproval, and in an apparent bid to avoid further complaints, the government is now crowdsourcing ideas for internet policies.

In an article entitled UK Digital Strategy - the next frontier in our digital revolution (a document replete with language and references akin to an elderly parent talking about some aspect of modern culture they don't quite understand), Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey explains that he is looking for "ideas from public and industry on the UK's digital strategy".

The Internet of Things is the hot buzz-phrase right now and Samsung has an iron in the fire with SmartThings. Its line of products is also compatible with those made by other manufacturers -- that's the biggest catch with all of this, as not everything is compatible with all competing products.

Now Samsung is bringing its SmartThings platform to its own line of TVs and all 2016 models will offer built-in compatibility. This allows for control of your home right from the screen in your living room, or wherever you may have the product.

Almost eight years ago, Bruce Schneier wrote a great article about the problems of ROI calculation for cybersecurity spending within organizations. Since then, both annual spending on cybersecurity and the cost of global cybercrime have significantly increased.

Despite that organizations increased their information security budgets by 24 percent in 2016, many security officers still have to justify to their management every extra thousand spent on cybersecurity. Traditionally, Europe is more conservative than US, and many more European security officers are asked to reduce their initial cybersecurity budgets by removing some items or replacing them with less expensive alternatives.

Microsoft, like many companies, ships some of its products with disk encryption and that's a good thing given the state of today's world. The vast majority of customers have nothing to hide, but they also don't wish to be watched by the prying eyes of governments and others.

However, it is being reported that the Windows maker is storing encryption keys in the cloud. While that doesn't necessarily mean a problem, it's also a bit scary because of the potential for what can go wrong -- a Murphy's Law scenario. This issue was first reported by The Intercept, which notes that your keys "may" be stored in the cloud -- not everyone's are.

If you've voted in a US election at some point in the last 15 years, there's a high chance that your personal details are now out in the wild. Security researcher Chris Vickery found a misconfigured database that exposes the details of no less than 191 million US voters.

The discovery was made a little over a week ago, and includes the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, state voter IDs, and party affiliations of people registered to vote since the year 2000. The amount of detail contained in the database gives real cause for concern, and Vickery was shocked to find his own details were easily accessible due to a database misconfiguration.

We've already seen a big increase in DDoS attacks in the past year and according to the latest predictions these are set to continue and become more sinister in nature as we move into 2016.

Security specialist Corero foresees a rise in 'Dark DDoS' attacks used as various smokescreens to distract victims while other attacks infiltrate corporate networks to steal sensitive data.

So many stores, service stations, coffee shops, pubs and so on offer free Wi-Fi that you probably have countless networks saved on your phone or laptop. Having a password saved on your computer is great, but how can you get the password so you can use it on your phone as well?

Rather than trying to hunt down a member of staff to ask, or hunting high and low for that tiny sign that shares the password, you can instead view the wireless passwords you have saved. Read on to find out how to retrieve these passwords in both Windows 10 and Android.

Based on Fedora Linux, you might expect North Korea's Red Star OS to be a secure operating system. It's not -- at least not by most people's standards. Like China, the socialist state is keen to embrace the power of the internet, but wants to retain control over is citizens. This s exactly what Red Star OS enables the government to do.

Germany researchers from the security company ERNW have probed Red Star OS, examined the code and determined that it is a home grown operating system that leaves the government in control of many aspects of its use, including encryption. It has been suggested that North Korea is paranoid that the west will try to infiltrate through software, but it is North Korean citizens that should be more worried.

Apple may have said that it opposes the idea of weakening encryption and providing governments with backdoors into products, but things are rather different in China. The Chinese parliament has just passed a law that requires technology companies to comply with government requests for information, including handing over encryption keys.

Under the guise of counter-terrorism, the controversial law is the Chinese government's attempt to curtail the activities of militants and political activists. China already faces criticism from around the world not only for the infamous Great Firewall of China, but also the blatant online surveillance and censorship that takes place. This latest move is one that will be view very suspiciously by foreign companies operating within China, or looking to do so.

Social networks were designed for people, and people mean problems. In particular, the likes of Facebook and Twitter have become havens for bullies and trolls, eager to prey on others online. Twitter has launched tools and education programs to combat trolling, and now the site says that it is winning the battle.

After making it easier to report abusive tweets and increasing the size of its anti-troll team, Twitter believes it is getting 'bad behavior' under control. As well as bullying of acquaintances and work colleagues, Twitter has also been used to attack celebrities, the gay community, religious groups, and more, with many people feeling driven from the site. It seems that the decision to take a very hands-on approach to troll tackling is starting to pay off.