Medium.com ditches passwords to increase security
Remembering all of the passwords required to gain access to all of your online accounts is a pain. You could opt to use a password manager, or you might decide to use the same password for everything. But Blogging platform Medium.com has another option -- just don't use one!
The site has been anti-password for some time; users log into their accounts using an existing Twitter or Facebook account. For people who are not social network users, however, there's a new option. Working in a similar way to the 'I've forgotten my password' system used by many sites, Medium allows users to log in using nothing but their email address -- and says the system is more secure than regular passwords.
Avira wins case upholding its right to block adware
Security firm Avira has won a court case that can not only be chalked up as a win for consumer rights, but could also set something of a precedent. German company Freemium.com took Avira to court for warning users about 'potentially unwanted applications' that could be bundled along with a number of popular games and applications.
Freemium.com downloads included a number of unwanted extras in the form of browser toolbars, free trial applications, adware, and other crapware. Avira's antivirus software warned users installing such applications; Freemium took objection to this and filed a cease and desist letter, claiming anti-competitive practices. But the court ruled in Avira's favor, saying it could continue to flag up and block questionable software.
Family Safety updated and renamed Microsoft Family ready for Windows 10
It can't have escaped your attention that we are now on the home straight for the release of Windows 10. With just a month to go, there are a few loose ends to tie up with the operating system itself, but there are also areas of the Windows ecosystem that are receiving attention ahead of the launch. One such component is Family Safety, Microsoft's parental control system.
Now renamed to Microsoft Family, the settings can be used to monitor and restrict what younger computer users are able to do on a computer. As well as the change of name, Microsoft Family is now part of Microsoft Account and there has been a bit of a redesign to make it easier to get around.
Kaspersky scanning your PC when visiting Facebook
Facebook has added security firm Kaspersky Lab to its roster of antivirus companies protecting its users from malicious software, the social media site has announced.
In a blog post by Facebook Security, the company said it is keeping users’ computers safe just by using Facebook, in the way that Kaspersky Lab, together with the likes of ESET, F-Secure and Trend Micro, runs a clean-up tool in the background while you use the social network.
Arguably the best Anti-Virus for Windows is giving pirates a chance to turn into legit users for free
For years companies have been battling with vicious groups to prevent them from “cracking” their products and services and use them for free. Microsoft, for instance, has implemented several measures including product activation, to make it harder than ever to crack the Windows operating system versions and its Office suite. Several game companies have devised systems where, until a user connects and verifies the game title by them, it won’t play. But in a world where everyone is trying to crack down on piracy, a company is embracing it and giving pirates a chance to turn into legit users.
Security firm Malwarebytes announces Amnesty program, under which it is allowing users to enter the license keys they gleaned for cheap from shady dealers, or simply illegally obtained it from somewhere, and issuing them with a new serial key. The new license key in question will be unique to the user, the company says, and it will offer a 12-month subscription to the premium (paid) version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware security suite.
Anti-trolling site aims to stamp out online abuse, sexism, and homophobia
The day after the US Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the self-explanatorily named Stop Abuse Online website has launched. While the site has been set up with the intention of combating online abuse and trolling in general, female and LGBT victims are a particular focus.
The aim of Stop Abuse Online is to offer advice to those who find themselves falling victim to abuse -- be it online harassment, stalking revenge porn, or blackmail -- complete with legal tips about how to deal with different circumstances. The site is run by seven voluntary organizations in the UK and looks to bring the same protection to the web that people expect in the real world.
Almost half of leading websites fail security and privacy tests
In an audit of 1,000 websites, including those of leading retailers, banks, social media, news and government bodies, 46 percent were found vulnerable to known online security threats.
According to the non-profit Online Trust Alliance, which conducted the study, sites belonging to Internet of Things companies are most at risk. The audit included the websites of 50 leading Internet of Things device makers, focused on wearable technologies and connected home products. 76 percent of these sites failed the assessment, while only 20 percent scored highly enough to qualify for the OTA's Online Trust Honor Roll.
Click fraud provides the gateway to ransomware
Just as drug dealers try to get people hooked on progressively more addictive substances, it seems that the hijacking of a device to perform simple click fraud can quickly lead to the distribution of nastier malware.
According to the latest State of Infections report from threat protection specialists Damballa, a compromised device, originally exploited for the relatively low-level purpose of committing of click fraud -- a scam to defraud pay-per-click advertisers -- became part of a chain of infections, which led within two hours to the introduction of the toxic ransomware CryptoWall.
Android is the biggest target for mobile malware
Most of the malicious software for mobile devices targets Google’s Android operating system, a new report by Pulse Secure says.
Last year, almost one million individual malicious apps for Android were released, according to Pulse Secure’s Mobile Threat Report. That means the number of threats quadrupled in comparison to the year before.
Cloud platform Fasetto shows Google how Undo Send should be done
A couple of days ago, Google took Gmail's Undo Send feature out of its six year beta period, and brought the option to a wider audience. Although the feature has been widely welcomed, there has also been criticism, particularly about the measly 30 second time limit users are given to change their mind and recall an email. Today Fasetto launched Messaging 2.0 which includes the ability to recall or edit messages or files that have been sent, with no time limits.
Fasetto is a cloud storage platform that offers security features that will appeal to the enterprise, as well as home users. Available for Windows, Android, iOS, OS X, and even Windows Phone, the platform has a focus on security that extends to being completely free of tracking and log files, but it also has a thing or two to teach Google.
How to encrypt your emails
If there’s one thing that Edward Snowden left us with, it’s the notion that our digital data isn’t all that safe and that the government knows what we did last summer. But in essence, that only applies to that data being created and used using standard tools -- emails, browsers, etc.
However, if you really want to keep your data private, including browsing history and email, there are ways to do it. They’re simple to use, accessible and close to impossible to crack.
Organizations suffer an average of 3.8 insider attacks per year
It may be hackers and cyber criminals that are in the front of most people's minds when thinking of security, but a worrying number of attacks come from organization insiders.
New crowd-based research from user activity monitoring and behavior analysis specialist Spectorsoft shows that 62 percent of security professionals saw a rise in insider attacks over the last 12 months, while 22 percent saw no rise, and 16 percent were unsure if they had been attacked or not.
Parents, keep your children safe online!
Children are always just one click away from harmful content, and it’s the parents’ job to keep them safe, that’s the message of a new campaign for greater protection of children online.
The campaign, kicked off by Internet Matters, is called Protect Their Curiosity, and is urging parents to enable parental controls on all internet-enabled devices that children have access to.
Samsung is disabling Windows Update without users' permission
Windows Update has long been pushed as the way to make sure that Windows is fully patched and secure as possible. It is recommended that it be left in Automatic mode so updates are downloaded as they are released. Samsung, however, has different ideas.
The company has been found disabling Windows Update on a number of the computers it sells, channeling people to use its own SW Update tool instead. Microsoft MVP Patrick Barker noted the activity when he found a program called Disable_Windowsupdate.exe on his computer. The culprit was Samsung's crapware.
BUFFERZONE joins the Intel Security Innovation Alliance
Security of the endpoint is often the weakest link in enterprise security as users may not be aware of the risks from malicious content that can slip past traditional protection.
Endpoint security company BUFFERZONE is announcing today that it's joining the Intel Security Innovation Alliance (SIA) program as a Sales Teaming Partner and that it's been certified as McAfee Compatible with the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) platform.
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