John Lister

Scammers have found a creative way to bypass spam filters, effectively tricking legitimate sites into sending the message on their behalf. It's a reminder that human skepticism is always a key part of cyber security. The new scam was spotted by Sam ... Cook of Comparitech who spotted something amiss in an email from the British Newspaper "Archive," - a perfectly legitimate organization. The scam email asked him to confirm his email address for registering an account with the site. The problem there was that Cook hadn't attempted to register. In fact, this was the first time he ever ... (view more)

Microsoft is changing a default setting in Windows 10 that means it's now OK to remove a USB device without properly "ejecting" it from the operating system. It's an acknowledgement that many users simply don't use the "eject" feature. The fact is, ... using the "Safely remove hardware and eject media" on the Windows task bar (near the clock) is the correct way to eject USB media. This method is necessary because of read and write buffers to the device are constantly active. If the buffers are not flushed before the device is properly ejected, it could mean ... (view more)

Microsoft is going back to its old policy of letting users choose what Windows updates they get and when they get them, albeit with some restrictions. It's also going to put updates through more testing before rolling them out. One of the biggest ... change (and perhaps most controversial) with Windows 10 was the abandonment of the old policy by which users could take a case-by-case approach to downloading updates . The default in Windows 10 for home users has been that everything downloads and installs automatically, though exactly when this happens varies from device to device. That's partly ... (view more)

Facebook has asked some new users to provide passwords for their email accounts. It's provoked fury among critics who say it goes against basic rules of online security. Often when a user signs up for an online service they provide an email address ... as a form of identification. The service will normally check the address is genuine by sending a code or a link in an email to the address, thus proving the user does indeed "own" that address. However, some people signing up to Facebook have instead been seeing a screen that offers to confirm the email address automatically. The screen includes a ... (view more)

Microsoft will add a "tamper protection" feature to the built in antivirus tools in an upcoming Windows 10 update. It's designed to stop malware from switching off key security features in Microsoft Defender. Initially the changes will be available ... for Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which is a subscription service for businesses. However, Microsoft appears to have revealed it will later become available to home users of Windows 10. (Source: zdnet.com ) The idea is to prevent rogue apps from disabling some of the weapons in the Microsoft Defender arsenal, in turn making it far ... (view more)

Facebook is to tell users why a particular post has appeared in their news feed. However, it won't be telling the full story. One of the most controversial elements of Facebook is its news feed algorithm, which is responsible for showing 'news' from ... friends when a user logs into Facebook. At one point, this simply consisted of everything the user's friends had posted or shared in chronological order. This arguably became impractical, as both the number of users and the range of content users could share or otherwise interact with had rocketed. The argument is that the sheer amount of content ... (view more)

Google is to make emails more interactive. It's billed as offering "more engaging and actionable email experiences" but might appeal to marketers more than users. It's all to do with the release of what Google calls "AMP for Email." AMP (Accelerated ... Mobile Pages) already exists and is a project designed to have web pages open quickly on mobile devices even if they contain media such as photos or videos. AMP for Email makes it possible to send a document in AMP format, but have it delivered as an email. At its most basic level, that should mean emails will be quicker to load, rather ... (view more)

Apple has released a patch for mobile devices which covers 51 security flaws. It's sparked debate over Apple's security levels and the way it issues such updates. The patch is for iOS, taking it up to version 12.2. Apple doesn't issue standalone ... security updates. Instead, it builds it into the main update for the system, which also includes new features or bug fixes. (Source: apple.com ) The most notable fix is a bug in an API (application program interface), which lets third party software interact with Apple services. In this case, the API bug could allow malware to access an iPhone, iPad ... (view more)

PC and laptop manufacturer ASUS unwittingly installed malware on its customers' laptops, according to a cyber security company. The malware went out to around a million people, yet appears to have been a highly targeted attack. The claims come from ... Kaspersky Lab, with rival firm Symantec confirming it has found similar evidence of the attack. At the time of writing, ASUS has yet to comment publicly on the claims. (Source: kaspersky.com ) According to Kaspersky Lab, the hackers took advantage of ASUS Live Update Utility. That's a tool by which ASUS automatically updates software on laptops, ... (view more)

Firefox is to stop websites from playing videos automatically when a user visits a page. By default, autoplay will only be allowed if the sound is muted. The move by developers Mozilla is designed to tackle the problem of unwanted noise when ... somebody is simply expecting to read an article. This is a particular problem with sites that carry video ads or news sites that automatically play a video report, even if it isn't related to the story the user was expecting to read. The new default takes effect in version 66 of Firefox, which is getting a public release this week. The videos will still ... (view more)