News from the technology industry.
According to a report from the Washington Post, the United States Department of Homeland Security has issued an order to all civilian agencies in the federal government to identify any software from Kaspersky Lab on their networks. This is in preparation for a potential outright ban on the use of Kaspersky software in those agencies […]
Recently, a type of malware called ransomware has begun to appear more frequently. Its purpose is to effectively take data hostage and demand a ransom in exchange for returning it. CryptoLocker, for example, does this by encrypting all document files on a computer and mapped network drives, then requiring a payment of roughly $300. Upon confirmation […]
IT support scams seem to be all the rage with offshore con artists lately. These fraudsters cold call or simply aggressively advertise to pull victims in and make them believe they are dealing with large, reputable companies like Microsoft or HP. Once they have made contact, they persuade users to give them remote access to […]
The first well-known fake mobile antivirus software was called Virus Shield, and it was placed in the Google Play Store. Since then, the malware has become progressively more sophisticated. Now, it seems to be using the names of legitimate antivirus software companies. Kaspersky posted an article five days ago about a couple of these malware packages […]
A number of news outlets are reporting that the US and UK governments have issued a warning advising users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser to stop using it for now due to a major vulnerability. There are a number of alternative web browsers available, including Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Both of them have mobile versions […]
The much-covered Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL, has been detected, exploited, patched, and fixed on every major website by now, so it’s the perfect time to change your passwords. Heartbleed is a security bug that created a vulnerability in OpenSSL’s Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol implementation, specifically that of its heartbeat extension. The defect permitted up to 64 kilobytes […]
Many of you have heard by now that Windows XP is approaching its “End of Support” date, April 8. A few of you have asked how this will affect your current Windows XP installations and how quickly you need to plan upgrades. First, don’t panic. The End of Support means only that new security updates […]
The popular remote access software LogMeIn Free will be discontinued in favour of LogMeIn’s paid options, according to a release on the company blog. Existing users are already being migrated to paid services, but a number of alternatives do exist. TeamViewer is very popular, as is VNC (which comes in several flavours, such as RealVNC, […]
Computing pioneer Alan Turing has received a posthumous pardon from the Queen, more than 60 years after his conviction for “gross indecency” and his subsequent suicide. The Independent reports that the pardon was given under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, typically used to nullify the conviction of an innocent person. Alan Turing is best known […]
A lot of people are unclear on what, exactly, BitTorrent is and what it’s for. This article from MakeUseOf gives a pretty good overview of BitTorrent and its purposes.
