Email Malware Returns With New Tricks

John Lister — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 18:15:02 +0000

A notorious botnet that spreads malware through fake emails is back in action. Emotet has returned with some new tactics to try to bypass security checks. Emotet had already gained a reputation for being (comparatively) successful at fooling humans and computers alike. Its most notable characteristic was that it not only used messages that appeared to come from a trusted contact, but that it addressed the recipient by name and even appeared to be a reply to a previous genuine message. Most commonly, Emotet sends malware through Microsoft Word documents with macros. These are now disabled by ... (view more)

Website Whitewashers 'Use Unethical Tactics'

John Lister — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 18:49:16 +0000

An investigation has revealed the tactics of a company that offers to hide negative information about clients on the Internet. A newspaper has accused Eliminalia of using "unethical or deceptive methods" to achieve its goals, sometimes helping serious criminals. The company says its main approach is taking advantage of the European Union's "right to be forgotten". This gives people the right to ask websites to remove information that is inaccurate or no longer relevant. The site doesn't have to comply but may have to justify a refusal later on. While the law is theoretically about websites ... (view more)

Internet Blackouts a Growing Problem

John Lister — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:42:55 +0000

Governments in 35 countries imposed complete blackouts of the Internet at some point in 2022 according to a new report. It's the highest figure in the seven years that "digital rights group" Access Now has been compiling data. Perhaps surprisingly, China only had one Internet shutdown, while Russia had just two. That's slightly misleading as Russian forces imposed 22 shutdowns in parts of Ukraine during the ongoing war. (Source: accessnow.org ) The country with the most blackouts (for the fifth straight year) was India, with 84. That's a hugely controversial topic as officials say the ... (view more)

Should Streaming Sites Fund Broadband Expansion?

John Lister — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 17:25:51 +0000

Netflix has rejected proposals that would help fund network infrastructure by companies responsible for large amounts of Internet traffic. It says the European idea would effectively mean customers paying twice for the same technology. Officials in Europe are currently consulting on the proposals. The idea is that companies which deliver the most traffic would pay a tax with the proceeds going towards projects to expand and improve Internet connections. The officials argue that companies such as Netflix benefit from the wide availability of Internet connections, but don't currently contribute ... (view more)

Human Brain Cells Could Power Computers

John Lister — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:56:21 +0000

Human brain cells could power computers of the future, according to a new study. Researchers say they've already seen a bunch of brain cells in a petri dish learn to play the old video game Pong. The bizarre-sounding concept already has a name: organoid intelligence, or OI for short. It's already prompted questions about the ethics involved. While the concept sounds pretty disturbing, the reality wouldn't be quite as unsettling as it might seem. There's no suggestion we'll be sticking human skulls inside the desktop computer in our living room. Instead, the idea is that brain cells, generated ... (view more)

Emojis Can Be Financial Advice, Says Judge

John Lister — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 18:10:05 +0000

A bizarre court ruling means that emojis can legally count as financial advice. It's a side effect of the latest case involving regulation of digital assets. The case centers on non fungible tokens, also known as NFTs. In short, an NFT is something that only exists digitally, can be bought and sold, and the ownership of which is recorded on a public ledger called a blockchain - similar to how bitcoin operates. In this case, the NFTs were a limited edition collection of digital clips of famous basketball moments. The effect was much the same as owning a rare trading basketball card except ... (view more)

Nokia Launches 'Repairable' Smartphone

John Lister — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 19:56:21 +0000

Nokia has launched an Android phone specifically designed to be repairable by the user. The G22 handset was made in cooperation with spare parts and repair site iFixit. Being unable to easily repair a handset (or even to get a third party expert to do it) has been one of the biggest frustrations for many phone owners. It often means having to replace an entire handset because a single component has failed, causing both financial and environmental damage. While some manufacturers have made phones with easily replaceable components, they tend to be less well-known brands and carry a premium ... (view more)

Microsoft Hijacks Chrome Download Page with Banner Ad

John Lister — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 18:36:13 +0000

Microsoft has experimented with one of its most audacious attempts yet to persuade users to prefer the Edge browser over Google Chrome. It appears the plan, which effectively involved full-size banner "ads" on the Chrome website, will not proceed after the tests. Technically speaking, the Microsoft Edge browser is built using "Chromium" code (which is open source), which is the exact same code that Google's Chrome browser uses. The only difference between Edge and Chrome is that Edge has been customized with its own set of unique features and is branded as being Microsoft Edge. That ... (view more)

Chrome Gets Performance Boost

John Lister — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:24:57 +0000

Chrome users will soon have two new modes that could significantly increase performance and battery life. The Energy Saver and Energy Saver modes are the first major changes since users of Windows 8 and earlier editions lost access to Chrome updates. While Google probably won't acknowledge things quite so bluntly, the new modes are an attempt to solve one of the most frequent complaints about the widely used browser. Many users find having too many tabs open at once means Chrome quickly starts using a lot of system memory. This can slow performance and even increase battery use on laptops. ( ... (view more)

Samsung Tackles 'Zero-Click' Malware

John Lister — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 18:10:04 +0000

Samsung's flagship phone is getting special protection against a particularly nasty form of mobile malware. It combats zero-click attacks, which can steal data or compromise a handset without needing any action by the user. The hacking technique hasn't been widely seen in real-world attacks on Android phones, though Samsung claims it has worked on Apple devices. Samsung clearly believes it's just a matter of time before attackers find a vulnerability that would make such an attack almost irresistible. The company explains that a zero-click attack would exploit such a vulnerability by sending ... (view more)

Windows 11 Gets New Way To Kill Stuck Apps

John Lister — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 18:23:00 +0000

The Windows 11 taskbar will soon have a quick option to kill a task or process. It's something users currently need to do by opening Task Manager. The precise terminology of stopping Windows doing something has changed over the years, with terms including programs, applications, tasks and processes. The actual distinctions don't really matter that much to the average user, but they include whether the issue is with Windows itself or an application. They also depend on whether the user is trying to stop an entire application or simply one of multiple things it is doing, such as running ... (view more)

Gloss Wears Off ChatGPT and AI Rivals

John Lister — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 19:06:21 +0000

Microsoft and Google have both put plenty of effort into artificial intelligence in recent months. After an initial wow factor, they've been plagued with a host of problems. Interest in AI-text shot up with the public release of ChatGPT, a tool that can not only simulate conversations with the user and answer questions, but also write articles and other text in a variety of styles. While it appears extremely clever, it's effectively an extremely souped-up version of the auto-predict feature many phones offer when sending text messages. ChatGPT is produced by an independent developer called ... (view more)

Broadband Providers Accused of Gaming System

John Lister — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 20:09:03 +0000

Internet providers have been accused of misleading claims as to where they offer service. The apparently false information could affect which areas benefit from a $42 billion government fund to get more homes online. Internet service providers have supplied data to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for coverage maps as part of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program. That will help fund broadband networks in areas that don't currently have access, usually because they are too remote or sparsely populated to make it commercially worthwhile for companies to install new ... (view more)

Average Broadband Use Pushes 600GB a Month

John Lister — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 17:09:05 +0000

The average US broadband subscriber uses almost 600GB a month according to new estimates. The figures also show people on an affordable connection program are making the most of it. The figures come from OpenVault, a company that provides technology for "optimizing networks," which naturally means it has an interest in showing broadband networks are under strain. According to the report, the average use was 586.7GB a month, up almost 10 percent last year. That includes both uploads and downloads, which remain in roughly the same proportion as last year. The averages are certainly being driven ... (view more)

Windows 11 Could Run On 384MB RAM

John Lister — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 17:57:27 +0000

A new, unofficial version of Windows 11 runs on older machines with extremely limited memory and storage. In practice, though, Tiny11 is more for enthusiasts than the average user. Officially Windows 11 needs at least 4GB of RAM and 64GB of hard drive space. The specs are a big increase from Windows 10 following several previous Windows editions where the minimum specs either increased slowly or remained steady. That prompted debate about what elements of Windows boost the memory and storage requirements and whether those elements are really necessary or desirable. Now a Romanian tech ... (view more)

Apple Still Working On 'Reverse' Wireless Charging

John Lister — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:04:04 +0000

iPhones could soon act as wireless chargers for other devices. It's been in the works for many years but will likely be restricted to premium models. The logic behind the move is that modern smartphones have high battery capacity (even if iPhones don't always have the best reputation for long battery life). That could be a source of power for smaller devices such as smart watches and wireless earphones. Although such devices usually last longer between charges, that can be a disadvantage for charging. That's because the chances of them running out of power when the user is away from home are ... (view more)

Chrome Makes Deleting Recent Activity Easier

John Lister — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 17:33:36 +0000

Chrome users on Android devices may soon have an "emergency" button to delete the last 15 minutes of browsing history. It's a simplified version of existing settings and follows a similar tool for search history. The search delete tool has been available for nearly a year now, but doesn't appear to be widely known about. It's not on the Chrome browser app but rather the dedicated search tool that's accessible on many devices by swiping right from the home screen. Users simply need to click on their profile picture and then select the "Delete last 15 minutes" option. Now it appears a ... (view more)

Smartphone and PC Shipments Slump

John Lister — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 18:11:23 +0000

The market for smartphones, tablets and PCs will shrink for a second straight year according to a newly-published forecast. The phone slump could mean the lowest number of units leaving manufacturers since 2009. Gartner, which produced the figures, says factors behind the trend include the economy, changing consumer behavior, and a lack of innovation. The forecast isn't for sales but rather shipments: that is, the number of devices which manufacturers send to retailers. It's affected by both recent sales and forecast for future sales. For example, shipments may drop if retailers have a ... (view more)

Facebook 'Drained User Batteries Deliberately'

John Lister — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 20:47:01 +0000

A former Facebook employee says the company deliberately drained the batteries of users as an experiment. George Hayward made the claims in a lawsuit that he has now withdrawn. Hayward says he was fired for refusing to work on the experiments. He originally sued the company, but has now withdrawn the case because of a rule that says he must go to arbitration. The lawsuit said the possibility of completely draining a battery and making phones inoperable put users at risk. This was especially the case "in circumstances where they need to communicate with others, including but not limited to ... (view more)

FBI Hits Ransomware Gang

John Lister — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 20:52:12 +0000

The FBI says it disrupted a major ransomware network that had already taken around $100 million in payments. It says its work to infiltrate the Hive group saved a potential $130 million in future demands. The group is said to have compromised networks run by hospitals and schools among other organizations. The $100 million compares with an estimated annual total of $886 million payments in the US across all ransomware attacks. (Source: nbcnews.com ) Scammers Pay Royalties Hive is one of the more notorious "ransomware-as-a-service" groups. Its business model means individual attackers will use ... (view more)

Android To Block Older Apps

John Lister — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 19:47:46 +0000

The next version of Android may make it much harder to install and run apps from third party sources. The change will mainly affect older apps that haven't been updated in some time. Unlike with Apple's iPhones, Android handsets aren't restricted to apps from the official App Store. Users may either use other app stores (other than the Google Play Store), or download and manually install apps from the web in a process known as "sideloading." Doing this doesn't require any "hacking" of the device, though users do have to change the phone's settings and confirm they understand the ... (view more)

'No Topless Women' Rule Causes Facebook Problems

John Lister — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 19:03:08 +0000

Facebook's oversight board says it should rethink its rules on topless images. Tech experts believe the current rules can't be effectively enforced with automated moderation anyway. The ruling comes from the independent body that looks into cases where people believe Facebook has wrongly moderated content. The idea is to concentrate on cases where Facebook's rules may need clarifying. In this situation, the board looked at two connected cases. Both involved posts on Instagram, which is owned by the same company as Facebook. The two services share content rules set by parent company Meta. The ... (view more)

Social Media Moderation Elicits Free Speech Probe

John Lister — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 18:31:39 +0000

The Supreme Court has asked the government for advice over two cases involving social media. The court is reviewing challenges to laws that could effectively ban moderation on sites. The state laws in Florida and Texas both limit the ability of social media companies to moderate some content, though they would work in different ways. The Florida law covers online platforms with more than 100 million users. It says companies must publish their moderation rules and apply them consistently to all users. It also says companies cannot ban any user who is an active political candidate for a future ... (view more)

AI Image Firm Accused of Copyright Infringement

John Lister — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 17:59:32 +0000

The makers of an artificial intelligence tool for "creating" art are being sued by a photo licensing company. The case could set a precedent for how copyright law works with modern technology. The case involves Stability AI, the company behind a "deep learning, text-to-image model." It's designed mainly to create images based on a text description provided by the user. As well as being a neat trick in itself, the idea of the model is to develop computer learning. That means that rather than humans providing a set of rules to follow, the computer model figures out rules itself. Imagery is a ... (view more)

Security Update Kills Windows Shortcuts

John Lister — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 18:23:43 +0000

A Microsoft Defender update has caused havoc by removing desktop, Start Menu and Taskbar shortcuts. Some users even say entire programs have disappeared. The closest thing to good news is that, although it affects both Windows 10 and 11, the problem only appears to affect Windows enterprise versions, rather than home users. That's because the problem is with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, a version of the security tool designed for networked computers. For most affected users, the problem is "limited" to the various shortcuts disappearing. Some have also reported that using the Windows key ... (view more)

Report: Most Smart Devices Patched 2 Years, Max

John Lister — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 18:06:09 +0000

Some "smart" home products could become unsupported in just two years according to a consumer group. That could mean premium features stop working and may even create security risks. The details come from "Which?," a British organization very similar to Consumer Reports in the US. It explored a big potential problem with smart tech: that the support for such features is often guaranteed for much less time than the expected useful lifespan of the product itself. The group researched smart features, meaning devices were linked to the Internet or a local network and allowing extra ... (view more)

MS Teams Goes Premium, Kills Free Edition Features

John Lister — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 17:46:01 +0000

Microsoft is to start charging extra for some features in its videoconferencing tool, Microsoft Teams. The move suggests it's further targeting a business audience rather than concentrating on the consumer market. At the moment Microsoft Teams is free to use, either as part of the Office 365 suite (included in the subscription cost) or a free standalone tool. Microsoft is now launching Teams Premium, which will carry an extra fee. Microsoft has hinted that will be $10 a month but has yet to confirm that. (Source: theregister.com ) Features to be Removed from "Standard" Microsoft ... (view more)

Facebook Wrong To Delete Anti-Iranian Posts

John Lister — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 19:06:28 +0000

Facebook's oversight board says the site was wrong to delete a post protesting against the government in Iran. It's another example of the difficulties of moderating content online. The ruling came from an independent body that reviews a selection of decisions made by Facebook moderators. In a very loose sense, the body works a little like the Supreme Court in that it looks at specific cases but its rulings set wider precedents. In this case, a user had made a post which included the phrase "marg bar Khameni." Literally translates, that means "death to Khameni" and refers to Iran's Supreme ... (view more)

Contentious Windows 11 Start Menu Change Abandoned

John Lister — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 19:04:09 +0000

Microsoft has abandoned plans to recommended websites in the Windows 11 Start menu. It hasn't said exactly why but suggests user feedback played a role. An idea to suggest searching on Microsoft Edge when copying text has also been ditched. It was the latest attempt to promote the browser to Windows users. The two ideas were both rolled out last November to users of the Dev channel in the Windows Insider test program. That's the first time potential new features are available to anyone outside of Microsoft. People who choose to use the Dev channel are particularly eager to see new ideas, ... (view more)

US Politicians Told to Delete TikTok

John Lister — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 20:48:21 +0000

TikTok has been banned from all US federal government devices over security fears. The ban even extends to phones issued to members of the House of Representatives. The government ban was introduced in the "omnibus" spending bill recently passed by Congress. It gives federal employees two months to delete the app, along with any others issued by developers ByteDance, from government-issued handsets. Although the bill did not cover politicians, the House of Representatives chief administrative Catherine Szpindor has written to the house's members and staff to say the rules will now apply to ... (view more)

Millions Will Lose Chrome Updates

John Lister — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 17:27:52 +0000

Google's Chrome browser will soon be unsafe to use on Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. Google is about to finally ditch support for the systems, meaning no more updates. Version 109 of Chrome, scheduled for a full public release on January 10th, 2022, will be the last available for those editions. Starting with version 110, expected in February, new versions will only be available for Windows 10 and later. (Source: google.com ) Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users can still run Chrome 109 (or earlier versions) but the browser will become increasingly outdated with no new features or performance fixes. More ... (view more)

Phones Could Get Replaceable Batteries By Law

John Lister — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 17:50:05 +0000

Phone manufacturers may be forced to make batteries easily removable. The proposed European rule could have worldwide consequences. Were the rules to become law, they would affect 27 countries that are members of the European Parliament. For global manufacturers, most notably Apple, that could mean such a significant change to their handset design that they find it simpler to replicate it in all markets. Politicians from the European Parliament and the technology ministers from each country have agreed to the changes in principle. They'll now have to go through the lawmaking process before ... (view more)

Apple App Store Monopoly May End

John Lister — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 01:15:21 +0000

Apple looks set to allow iPhone and iPad users to get apps from sources other than the official App Store. It's a major change of policy, almost certainly sparked by forthcoming changes to European law. Analysts predict Apple will find ways to minimize the effect of the change. However, stock prices in many companies that make apps have risen on the assumption they'll make more revenue because Apple won't take a cut of app purchases. Unlike rival Android, Apple has always kept tight control on the apps users can install, making the App Store the only option without "jailbreaking" the device, ... (view more)

Light-Based Computing Promises Super Speeds

John Lister — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 17:49:12 +0000

A computer that uses light - rather than electrons - for processing could be faster, smaller and use less power. Researchers say they've found a way to make an optical computer without the major limitations of previous models. Ultimately, everything a computer does is broken down into a series of calculations. In traditional computer processors, these work through a series of physical "logic gates" that either do or don't pass through an electrical signal. This creates a positive or negative electrical charge, which represents either a 0 or 1 in a single bit of data. Several researchers have ... (view more)

Samsung Tops Smartphone Eco Ratings

John Lister — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:18:41 +0000

A program to rate the environmental impact of cell phones now covers 35 countries. But there's no sign yet of Eco Rating coming to North America. The program has run since May 2021 and involved eight mobile carrier companies. They then ask handset manufacturers to answer questions about their devices. So far, more than 20 manufacturers have done so, with a total of more than 300 devices rated. The rating aims to cover the environmental impact of every stage of a phone's life, starting with the raw materials and the manufacturing process. It also takes into account the distance and method of ... (view more)

New Blockchain Tech Slashes Power Use

John Lister — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 18:32:54 +0000

Changes to a major rival of Bitcoin have reduced energy use by 99 percent. The drop in computer processing for Ethereum has been likened to the amount of electricity used by a "mid-size country." The change has come after the Ethereum blockchain switched from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, a sentence that makes little sense to most normal people. To break it down, a blockchain is a digital list of transactions. The key is that it doesn't exist as a single copy but rather multiple copies across all the computers of all users. In theory at least, this means it can't be edited or falsified ... (view more)

Google Drops Automated Form-Filler

John Lister — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 01:04:17 +0000

Google has ditched a feature that could automatically navigate websites and complete forms. The biggest problems with "Duplex on the Web" were that hardly anyone knew about it or needed it. The feature launched in 2019 and was all about automating common sequences of actions on a website. The idea was to remove the need for the user to repeatedly click "next" buttons and confirm choices. Among the examples Google gave were ordering food on a restaurant site, buying tickets on a movie theatre website, and checking out of an online store. Google Assistant Control The feature worked with the ... (view more)

Windows 8.1 End of Life: No More Security Fixes

John Lister — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:12:02 +0000

Windows 8.1 will no longer receive security updates from next month. It is said to effect millions of users. Microsoft has reminded users that January 10th, 2020 is the "end of support" date for the system. That means it will continue to work, but users will no longer get any updates or fixes, whether for security or performance bugs. The deadline also means an end to technical support from Microsoft of any kind. (Source: microsoft.com ) The system has already past the mainstream support deadline in 2018. That's when Microsoft stopped adding any new features. No Pay-To-Secure Option Unlike ... (view more)

Government Apps Used 'Russian' Code

John Lister — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 18:08:21 +0000

Two US government apps have been revealed as using code from a Russian company that falsely claims to be based in the US. It's also claimed one of that company's developers has a history with malware. The initial revelation came from Reuters which highlighted "thousands" of smartphone apps included code from a company called Pushwoosh. The apps included one for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and another used by the US Army. Both have now removed the code. (Source: reuters.com ) The Pushwoosh code lets apps put together profiles of users and send notifications without ... (view more)