Twitter staff targeted by 'coordinated social engineering' attack as hackers hijack verified accounts in Bitcoin scam
Overnight, Twitter suffered a massive attack by hackers who tried to use the verified accounts of celebrities and high-profile users to execute a Bitcoin scam. The likes of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Kanye West had their accounts hijacked and message were posted promising that if people sent money to a Bitcoin wallet, they would get double the amount back.
Needless to say, it was a crypto scam, and Twitter took the extraordinary steps of preventing all users with a blue tick from tweeting. Twitter now has control of the situation and says that the attack came after staff fell victim to social engineering, enabling hackers to gain access to internal tools which were then used to take over key accounts.
VPN with 'strict no-logs policy' exposed millions of user log files including account passwords
An unprotected database belonging to the VPN service UFO VPN was exposed online for more than two weeks. Contained within the database were more than 20 million logs including user passwords stored in plain text.
User of both UFO VPN free and paid services are affected by the data breach which was discovered by the security research team at Comparitech. Despite the Hong Kong-based VPN provider claiming to have a "strict no-logs policy" and that any data collected is anonymized, Comparitech says that "based on the contents of the database, users' information does not appear to be anonymous at all".
A Windows 10 update is removing apps for some users
These days it is hardly uncommon to find that an update for Windows 10 ends up breaking something, but the latest problematic update is causing a strange issue by removing components of Windows itself.
Yesterday, Microsoft released KB4565503 to fix various bugs, including problems introduced by previous updates to the operating system. After installing this update, some users are reporting that the Notepad and Paint apps have been removed from their computers.
Fintech startup Revolut brings cryptocurrency trading to US customers
British fintech firm Revolut has partnered with New York-based Paxos to bring Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to customers in the US.
Having only launched in the United States in March this year, Revolut is gradually bringing the services it already offers in Europe to its American user base. Thanks to the new partnership, residents of 49 states can now indulge in some crypto trading.
Microsoft releases KB4565503 to fix problems caused by previous Windows 10 updates
On Patch Tuesday last month, Microsoft kept up its track record of problematic updates. Users who installed KB4557957 or KB4560960 found they were plagued by problems with the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) and forced restarts.
Now the company has pushed out a new update, KB4565503, to address these issues and more.
SIGRed: Microsoft releases patch for critical, wormable vulnerability in Windows DNS Server
As part of this month's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has issued a fix for a 17-year-old Windows DNS Server vulnerability. Known as SIGRed and tracked as CVE-2020-1350, the flaw is a serious one that has been assigned a CVSS base score of 10.0.
The vulnerability affects all version of Windows Server and is a wormable remote code execution flaw that requires no user interaction. In addition to issuing a critical patch, Microsoft has also provided details of a workaround for anyone who is unable to deploy the fix immediately
Microsoft is bringing disposable email addresses to Office 365
Gmail and numerous other web-based email services have long supported the option of creating disposable email addresses using a +xxx suffix. Now Microsoft is catching up with the competition and is planning to bring this option to Office 365.
The company refers to the upcoming feature as Plus Addressing, and it's due to arrive at some point in the third quarter of this year.
Microsoft is dropping an important feature from OneDrive
While OneDrive is primarily used for cloud file storage, it also includes a handy feature that lets you remotely access any of the files stored on your PC. Or at least this is the case for the next couple of weeks.
When the end of July rolls around, Microsoft is killing off the ability to "fetch files" from a connected computer. Instead, users will have to explicitly specify which files and folders they want to synchronize and be able to access.
How to file a compensation claim against Apple for iPhone slowdown
Having reduced the performance of some iPhones with a new version of iOS, Apple agreed to pay compensation to those affected by the "batterygate" fiasco -- although the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by the company.
There is a pot of up to $500,000,000 set aside for owners of qualifying devices affected by the throttling issue, and you'll have to file a claim if you want to get your hands on your share. Before you get too excited, individual payments are unlikely to be large, but here's how to claim what you're entitled to.
Microsoft is dropping PHP support from Windows
PHP 8.0 is due for release in November, but when this major new version appears Windows will not support it.
The company says that bug fixes and security patches will continue to be released for the lifecycles of PHP versions 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4. But when the latest version is released later this year, Microsoft will "not [...] be supporting PHP for Windows in any capacity for version 8.0 and beyond".
Microsoft's new Kernel Data Protection will make kernel memory read-only and block attacks on Windows 10
Microsoft has revealed details of a new platform security technology which the company says will prevent data corruption attacks.
Kernel Data Protection (KDP) works by marking sections of kernel memory as read-only, so there is no way it can be tampered with. The technology comes in response to the fact that increasing numbers of attackers are using data corruption techniques to bypass security, gain additional privileges, and more.
Microsoft pushes out another update to PowerToys for Windows 10
Ah, PowerToys… how much we love thee! After reviving the much-loved utilities for Windows 10, Microsoft has wasted no time in releasing update after update, adding more and more tools and refining this incredible software.
It's only a week since the release of PowerToys v0.19.0, but the development team already has a new version for you to try out.
Microsoft launches Project Freta to detect malware in Linux kernels
Microsoft has revealed a new anti-malware service by the name of Project Freta. The company describes it as a "free service from Microsoft Research for detecting evidence of OS and sensor sabotage, such as rootkits and advanced malware, in memory snapshots of live Linux systems".
Project Freta is cloud-based, and the memory forensics tool was created by the NExT Security Ventures (NSV) team in Microsoft Research.
Microsoft takes another step towards killing off the Control Panel in Windows 10
Since the days of Windows 8, operating system settings have been split across the traditional Control Panel and the newer Settings. Over time, Microsoft has gradually tried to encourage people away from the Control Panel, burying it deeper and deeper in Windows.
Now the company has taken yet another step that signals the end of the line for the Control Panel you've come to know and love. In the latest builds of Windows 10, the System applet has been rendered all but redundant.
How to uninstall Microsoft Edge from Windows
Microsoft has been quite aggressive in pushing out the Chromium-based version of Edge, and not everyone is happy about it.
There is understandable anger at having a browser that isn't necessarily wanted being forcibly installed -- and to add insult to injury, Microsoft has also made it impossible to uninstall Edge. But there is actually a way to get rid of the browser. Here's what you need to know.
Sofia Elizabella's Bio
Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson is a queer, transgender journalist based in Poland. She has been writing about technology for more than two decades, and after years working for magazines, her writing moved online. She is fueled by literature, music, nature, and vegetables. You can find her on Bluesky and Mastodon. If you like what you read, you can Buy her a Coffee!
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