security

Researchers say a malware operation involving 224 malware-laden Android apps was particularly creative. They used a combination of tactics to disguise the malware and hide it from Google and security researchers. Human Security, which revealed ... details of the operation, has labeled the operation as "SlopAds". Its ultimate goal was to hijack phones and tablets to make bogus clicks to make it look like a user has viewed an ad on a site operated by the scammers. They then collect revenue from advertisers who are unaware no human saw their message. (Source: humansecurity.com ) The researchers say ... (view more)

Google says stories it has warned all Gmail users about a security issue with the service are highly misleading. It says claims of a major data breach affecting all users are wide of the mark. The stories appeared to stem from a very genuine breach ... at Salesforce, a major operator of customer relationship management tools. It's suffered a number of successful targeted attacks in recent months. It's an attractive target as it handles data for numerous big name companies. (Source: withsecure.com ) Google Ads Data Affected In many cases the attacks haven't involved software vulnerabilities but ... (view more)

In today's main article, we talked about the need for continuing Windows 10 support because the vast majority of PC's today Windows 11 requires TPM (Trusted Platform Module) but only newer PCs (circa >2018) have it. I've always wondered why a ... tech company couldn't simply create a USB-based TPM device so that older machines would be able to meet the requirements of Windows 11, so I decided to ask ChatGPT some questions. I thought the answers were fascinating, so I decided to put together a Q&A style article. Here's a breakdown of those questions in case you want to skip right to the ... (view more)

A campaign group want users to sign a petition calling on Microsoft to automatically extend support for Windows 10. It says existing plans where users can sign up to an extra year of support cheaply or free of charge don't go far enough. The ... petition is the work of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), which describes itself as "an advocate for consumers, advancing solutions to problems that affect our health, our safety and our wellbeing." It commonly campaigns on tech topics including the "right to repair" as a way to benefit consumers while reducing environmental waste. Millions Of ... (view more)

Windows 11 has finally become more popular than Windows 10 according to one estimate. But there's still a serious amount of work to do to persuade people to upgrade before Windows 10's "end of life" this October. The figures come from Statcounter, ... which says that 51.77 percent of Windows computers are now running Windows 11, ahead of Windows 10 on 45.02 percent. The remaining three percent are running even older systems, including a tiny but measurable user base for Windows XP. (Source: statcounter.com ) Statcounter is a company that helps websites measure and analyze their traffic, so its ... (view more)

A boy who started hunting computer bugs aged 13 has been dubbed Microsoft's youngest security researcher. 'Dylan' is the reason the company lowered its minimum age for officially reporting security vulnerabilities. Everything we know about the boy ... comes from a Microsoft report, which notes he is currently in his junior year at high school. Because of his age, it appears reporters don't consider it appropriate to try to independently verify any of the details. (Source: microsoft.com ) According to Microsoft, Dylan was a tech enthusiast for a young age, but became more interested in security ... (view more)

Breaking encryption using quantum computing could be 20 times easier than previously thought. It's not happening any time soon, but the point where computer security needs an overhaul may be earlier than expected. Most computer encryption today is ... based on creating an encryption key by multiplying two large prime numbers together. The beauty and simplicity is that doing this is very simple, but reversing the process to work out what the two numbers originally were is incredibly complex. While a computer can eventually figure it out, the idea is that it would take so long (potentially years or ... (view more)

Microsoft's controversial Windows 11 feature that takes repeated screenshots of user activity is back in testing. The Windows Recall feature had been put on pause after intense criticism about privacy implications. The idea of Windows Recall is to ... improve the computer's ability to search for past information. At the moment searching for something you did in the past has some significant limitations: not all activity is stored in the same way, and searching across multiple applications and media formats isn't always smooth. AI Database Microsoft believed the answer is to combine artificial ... (view more)

Deleting empty folders is often a good idea to keep a computer clutter-free and make it easier to see what you're actually looking for. But Microsoft has warned users not to delete an empty folder called "inetpub" in Windows. Although the folder is ... empty for most users, it's actually part of a security fix. The problem is Microsoft forgot to tell anyone about it. The folder shows up in the system drive. That's the hard drive which houses Windows itself. For many, and likely most, users this would be the C drive. Normally "inetpub" would only appear if you use a tool called Internet ... (view more)

Google says it has fixed one of the oldest security and privacy issues affecting Internet users. Chrome will soon make it impossible for sites to exploit the way links change color after you visit them. While different sites can override the ... defaults, most web browsers will display links in blue. However, if you've previously visited a site by clicking on a link, browsers will often show it in a different color (purple, for example). The idea is to make it easier to avoid going back to a site that wasn't helpful, or to quickly find a site you've previously accessed when you're using a search ... (view more)